



.(t K 


1*5 2 

PRESENT!-:!) HY 



























THOUGHTS 


ON 

HABIT AND DISCIPLINE, 


BY 

JOSEPH JOHN GTJRNEY. 

/# 


“ Since Custom is the principal magistrate of man’s life, let men by 
all means endeavour to obtain good customs.”—Lord Bacon. 

“ The present world is peculiarly fit to be a state of discipline, for 
our improvement in virtue and piety.”— Bishot Butler. 


.Stitfj dotation. 


LONDON: 

HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.; 
CHARLES GILPIN, BISHOPSGATE STREET WITHOUT; 
NORWICH : JOSIAH FLETCHER. 


MDCCCLII. 






(Hrt 

Misses Ida and Sara El. 

Deo. i4 l»28 I •• 



/ 




PREFACE 


« 


Amidst many more serious avocations, the composition of the 
present work has been the pleasant occupation of occasional leisure 
hours. Little as it is laboured, and capable as it is of much 
improvement, I am induced to publish it, in the hope that it may 
be of some use to the lately risen, and now rising generation. 

It consists of three divisions. The First contains general 
remarks on the nature and operation of Habit and Discipline : 
it is the philosophy of the subject, though in a low sense of the 
term, and in a very familiar guise. The Second relates to Bad 
Habit —that grand instrument in the hands of Satan for enslaving, 
enchaining, and finally destroying mankind; the Third to Good 
Habit, which is the appointed means, under the natural and moral 
government of God, and in connection with a providential scheme 
of Discipline, for our improvement in ability, knowledge, wisdom, 
and virtue. 

Good Habit is considered in its application, first, to the move¬ 
ments and uses of the body ; secondly, to art—that useful result 
of the joint exercises of body and mind; thirdly, to intellectual 
capacities and pursuits ; fourthly, to morals; and fifthly, to religion. 

Heartily do I desire that those who are now in the early vigour 
of their bodily and mental powers, may become subject, in all 
things, to the salutary power of Good Habit. Under the influence 
of the Holy Spirit, which can alone change and sanctify the heart 
of man, they will find in the friendly sway of this “magistrate of 
man’s life”—this genial nurse and mistress of our faculties—a 
preparation for all that is useful and honourable in time, and for 
all that is pure and joyous in eternity. 




CONTENTS 


(Cljnjrtrr /irat. 

On the Nature of Habit and Discipline. 1—68 

Section 1.—Or the Capacities of Animals, including Habit 1 

Section 2.—On Habit in Man . 24 

Section 3.—On Passive Impressions and Active Principles.. 47 
Section 4.—On Discipline . 54 

(Ctjnptrr 

On Bad Habit. 69—93 

Cfwpttr €{iirk 

On Good Habit . 94—236 

Section 1 .—General Principles of Education . 94 

Section 2 . — On Good Habits of Body . 109 

Section 3. — On Good Habits of Art. 118 

Section 4.—On Good Habits of Intellect. 128 

Section 5.— On Good Moral Habits. 155 

Section 6 .—On Good Beligious Habits. 290 















THOUGHTS 


ON 

HABIT AND DISCIPLINE. 


iCjwpto jfirst. 

ON THE NATURE OF HABIT AND DISCIPLINE. 


SECTION I. 

On the Capacities of Animals, including Habit. 

For every living creature, from man down to the 
lowest reptile, the Creator and Lord of the universe 
has ordained some particular way of life ; and this is 
determined partly by the capacities of the animal, and 
partly by the circumstances in which he is placed. 
The outward appointment and the inward character 
are ‘‘set over” one against the other; and the corres¬ 
pondence between them affords countless proofs both 
of design and benevolence in the Deity. 

The fitness of this lower world to the nature and 
needs of the animals which dwell upon it, and especially 
to those of man, may be traced in a multitude of par¬ 
ticulars. The rotation of the earth on its axis, and 
the consequent alternations of day and night, are just 
suited to living creatures which require corresponding 
changes of activity and rest, of waking and sleeping. 




2 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


Our organs of breathing would be of no use, had the 
earth no atmosphere; or had her atmosphere been 
water instead of air, or air differently composed. 
Were the air all oxygen, should we not be all on 
fire? Were it all nitrogen, should we not perish in a 
moment? Were it incapable of receiving rays of 
light, what would become of our seeing ? Had it no 
faculty of undulation, where would be our hearing ? 

It is perfectly conceivable that water, instead of 
being a flowing liquid, capable of evaporation, might 
have been stiff like jelly, or aeriform like steam. In 
either case, where would have been the life of myriads 
of fishes ?—where the fertility of the globe ?—where 
either the meat or the drink of its inhabitants ? The 
surface of the earth might have been all rock, so that 
no vegetable could grow upon it; or so soft as to be 
incapable of supporting the foot of man. Who does 
not perceive that the variety of nature coincides with 
the scope of our animal capacities ? If there were no 
flowers, the powers of smell would yield but little 
pleasure; and if the flowers produced no honey, the 
instinct of the bee would be useless. Were nature 
colourless, where would be the delights of vision ? 
Were she clothed in scarlet instead of green, how soon 
would our vision be destroyed I 1 Were the globe, on 
which we dwell, of a greater bulk than it is at present, 
so as to exert a stronger attraction towards the moving 
forms which pervade its surface, all these living crea- 

1 Many of these particulars, and others of a similar nature, are 
mentioned in Dick’s Christian Philosopher , a little work well 
worthy of general attention. 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


3 


tures would immediately become heavier than they 
now are. They would walk or run like persons who 
have lead in their shoes, or who are wearily forcing 
their way through almost impermeable clay. Were 
our globe, on the contrary, diminished in bulk, its in¬ 
habitants would lose a corresponding proportion of 
their weight. The stoutest trees would be quickly 
uprooted, and animals, never made for flight, would be 
dancing about like feathers in the air. The whole 
face of nature would become frivolous and unstable. 
Between the present bulk of the globe, and the actual 
form and strength of the living creatures upon its sur¬ 
face, there is an evidently designed coincidence—a 
perfect balance—a measured and absolute accordance. 

While these, and a thousand other examples, afford 
a clear evidence that God Jhas framed this material 
world with a view to the happiness of its appointed 
inhabitants, it is not to be forgotten that the world was 
first created, and afterwards peopled with living and 
sentient creatures. It is, therefore, more especially to 
our present purpose, to consider those inherent capaci¬ 
ties by which the various tribes of animals are them¬ 
selves adapted to their way of life, and to the circum¬ 
stances with which they are surrounded. 

It may not be unprofitable for us to trace some of 
these capacities in structure—in organic action—in 
sensation—in instinct, and in the faculty of habit. 

1 . “I will praise thee,” said David, “ for I am fear¬ 
fully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works, 
and that my soul knoweth right well: my substance 
w as not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and 


4 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 

in thy book all my members were written, which in 
continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was 
none of them!” 1 The inspired writer, though probably 
but little acquainted with the wonders of anatomy, ap¬ 
pears to have been well aware that the mechanism of 
the human frame affords a direct evidence of the skill 
of the Creator. But it is not only the delicacy and 
beauty of the machine—it is the obvious suitability of 
the whole to the purposes of life, and of its particular 
parts to their respective functions—it is mechanism 
with an end in view, and successful in accomplishing 
that end, which more abundantly proves the wisdom 
and goodness of our Maker. How curious and scientific 
is the structure by which the eye is fitted for seeing, 
the ear for hearing, the lungs for breathing, the stomach 
for digesting, and the tongue, with all its multitudes 
of muscles and nerves, both for tasting and talking! 
How admirably is the brain protected by the inter¬ 
woven bones of the skull, and the vital marrow by the 
studied machinery of the spine! When we perceive that 
the ball of the hip is tied to the socket in which it 
moves, by a strong ligament, we cannot for a moment 
doubt the final cause—that the hip may not be exposed 
to dislocation. And who shall say that the procuring 
cause is not equally discoverable? It is the finger of 
the Most High—it can he nothing else. 

This subject, however, is most clearly illustrated 
when we compare the structure of one animal with that 
of another. To man, who is made for an upright pos- 
Psalm cxxxix, 14—16. 



INCLUDING HABIT. 


5 


ture, a long neck would be only a source of misery and 
danger; but quadrupeds, which maintain the horizontal 
position, and find their food on the ground, require a 
neck proportionate to the length of their legs—and such 
a neck is given them. Some idle theorist may imagine 
that this length of neck, in the horse or the deer, is the 
effect of protrusion, and was originally produced by the 
appetency of the creature. But what appetency—what 
tendency of the head downward—could produce the 
strong cartilaginous bands, running on either side of 
the vertebras, by which, in these and other animals, the 
neck is strengthened, and enabled to support and lift 
up the head? Why is this band given to the animals 
who need it, and withheld from the human species, 
which needs it not? 

Every one must perceive that the foot of man and the 
hoof of the horse are destined for the land; the wings 
of the bird for the air; the fins of fishes for the waters. 
Why is the fish furnished with a tail, which at once 
propels him like a paddle and guides him like a rudder? 
Because God has determined that he should move in the 
waters. The Creator has also ordained that he should 
see in the waters; and for this purpose the crystalline 
humour of his eye is created globular —a form indis¬ 
pensable to the due concentration of the rays of light 
in so dense a medium. If we who live in air were fur¬ 
nished with eyes of the same form, the beauties of 
nature would be lost upon us—our vision would be 
utterly confused. What can account for the difference, 
but the design of Omnipotent benevolence? 

When Humboldt beheld a magnificent condor, float- 


6 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


ing through the rarified atmosphere which surrounds 
the highest tops of the Andes, he could scarcely do 
otherwise than observe, that the strength and length of 
its wings corresponded with the size of its body; and 
he might probably call to mind that such a flight would 
have been impossible, had not his body, like that of 
other birds, contained cavities filled with air, and bones 
remarkable for their hollowness as well as strength ? 
This peculiarity in the structure of birds is most clearly 
indicative of design. So also is their mode of gesta¬ 
tion; if this were the same as that of quadrupeds, the 
flight of the parent bird would be often and long pre¬ 
vented; but the weight of a single light egg offers no 
impediment to her passage through the air. 

It is necessary for the life and comfort of the whale, 
the seal, and the walrus, that, without any effort of 
their own, and in spite of the weight of their flesh, they 
should be rendered buoyant in the water. For this 
purpose they are furnished with a thick stratum, under 
their skin, of light fat or blubber. Nor is it to be for¬ 
gotten that the very substance which qualifies these 
creatures for their own element, affords abundance of 
oil for the use of man. 

The hot and sandy deserts which are the native 
region of the camel, can have had no tendency to pro¬ 
duce those reservoirs at the bottom of his stomach, 
which he fills with water, and then draws that water, 
when he pleases, for the quenching of his thirst. Yet 
were it not for that provision, he would often be a 
martyr to the climate to which he belongs; and would 
moreover become comparatively useless to mankind. 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


7 


What can be more especially adapted to the need of 
the fish than the air-bladder within him, which helps 
to support him in the water, and which he has the 
power of contracting when he wishes to sink, and of 
dilating when it is his will to rise? Can the element 
in which he lives have any tendency to form this 
curious organ, or must we trace its existence to the 
hand of the Creator? The waters might flow through 
the interstices of a fowl’s foot for ever, and never pro¬ 
duce the web which at once connects and separates her 
toes, and enables her to swim with ease and dexterity. 
Paley justly remarks that the web-foot, the long and 
flexible neck, the spoon-bill, the downy breast, and the 
grass-digesting stomach of the swan, who floats on the 
surface of the pool, and feeds on the weeds which grow 
at its bottom, are all made in relation one to another, 
and in their union precisely supply the needs of the 
animal. 

The bills and beaks of the various species of birds 
are exactly adapted to their respective methods of 
obtaining food; but in these long and often crooked 
projections, teeth would be at once useless and incon¬ 
venient. Now carniverous birds have no need of any 
contrivance for grinding their food; for they tear the 
flesh with their beaks, and digest it without difficulty. 
But how stands the case with birds which feed on 
grain, such as the common fowl, the turkey, or the 
pigeon? Their gastric juice refuses to act on the hard 
unbroken corn—their food must therefore be ground. 
And how is the object effected ? Not by teeth, which 
would only spoil their bills, but by the gizzard—a power- 


8 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


ful muscle, furnished with rough folds, which rub 
against each other, and reduce the grain to small par¬ 
ticles, as mechanically as the stones of a mill. 1 

The eyes of various species of fly are so fixed in one 
position, that these insects have no power to turn the 
pupil towards an object. The inconvenience which 
might have arisen from this peculiar structure is pre¬ 
vented by a most elaborate mechanism; for the organ is 
composed of a vast multitude of minute lenses, through 
which the animal is enabled to perceive objects in every 
direction. The number of these lenses in the eye of a 
dragon-fly has been found to be 12,000, and in that of 
a butterfly 17 , 000. 2 

The whole race of Hemipterous insects abstract the 
juices of plants or animals by “means of a hollow- 
grooved beak, often jointed, and containing three bristle- 
formed lancets.” These lancets “ at the same time that 
they pierce the food, apply to each other so accurately 
as to form one air-tight tube, through which the little 
animals suck up their repast; thus forming a pump, 
which, more effective than ours, digs the well from 
which it draws the fluid.” 3 

The examples which have now been cited, and a 
multitude of others which might easily be collected, 
afford abundant proofs that the capacity of animals in 
point of structure , is fitted with great exactness to their 
appointed way of life; and that as the various kinds of 
living creatures differ one from another in circumstance, 
so, and so precisely , they differ in organization. Equally 

1 See Paley’s Natural Theology, p. 287. 2 Idem, p. 280. Kirby 
and Spence, Introduction to Entomology, vol. iii, p. 495. 3 Idem, 

voL i, p. 398. 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


9 


evident is it that these pecularities of structure could 
never have arisen from any tendency or appetency in 
the animals themselves, and can be reasonably ascribed 
only to the wisdom and skill of an Omnipotent Creator. 

2 . From structure, we naturally proceed to involun¬ 
tary mechanical motion, and organic action. The 
exquisite machinery of the bodies of animals would 
be of no use for the purposes of life, did not their 
hearts perpetually beat, their blood perpetually circu¬ 
late, and their lungs perpetually breathe. What would 
preserve us from death and putrefaction, were there 
not an unceasing action maintained by our stomach, 
our biliary ducts, our lacteals, our absorbents, and our 
nerves ? And what could preserve these motions and 
actions from irregularity and disorder, did they depend 
on our own capricious will and care ? Better things, 
surely, are provided for the creatures of his hand, by 
that gracious Being who, in the first place, forms their 
material frame; in the second place, sets their vital 
organs in motion ; and lastly, maintains the continual 
working of the machine, until the moment arrives 
when, by his own resistless decree, they die and return 
to the dust. 

Here it may be well to remark, in passing, that 
those principles of creative wisdom to which we have 
hitherto adverted, are displayed (though under a dif¬ 
ferent modification) in the vegetable as well as in the 
animal kingdom. There is a certain degree of analogy 
between the structure of animals and that of plants, 
and both these systems of organized matter display the 
hand of matchless art, the mind of unrivalled science. 


10 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


There is, moreover, a comparative anatomy to be 
remarked in vegetables as well as animals ; the pecu¬ 
liar structure of each species being obviously adapted 
to its appointed way of life, and to the external cir¬ 
cumstances in which it is placed. Again, in the 
germination, growth, blossoming, and fructification of 
vegetables ; in the functions of their pores, in the 
motion of their sap, in their method of drinking up 
water, and of breathing in and exhaling air—we can¬ 
not fail to perceive a resemblance to organic action in 
animals. Both these branches of the divine economy 
shew forth the ever-present hand of him who produces 
and re-produces—who manages and maintains in order 
—the whole machinery of living things. 

3. Ascending one step higher in the scale of that 
economy, we come to the point which mainly distin¬ 
guishes the animal from the vegetable kingdom—i. e. 
sensation. The capacity of sensation may be defined 
as the internal power, by which living creatures 
perceive the impressions of external things. The 
appointed instruments through which they receive 
these impressions, are certain parts of that mechanical 
structure to which we have already alluded ; first, the 
brain and nervous system ; and secondly, the external 
organs of sense. These things are in a wonderful 
manner set over against each other. Notwithstanding 
all the perfection of their structure, blind would be the 
eye, deaf the ear, tasteless the tongue, and senseless 
the skin, were not animals furnished with a brain for 
a sensorium, and with nerves for feelers ; and utterly 
useless would be the whole of this machinery were 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


11 


there not, under it all, the mysterious principle of 
sensitive existence, hidden from the scrutiny either of 
the eye or of the understanding, and to be regarded 
only as the immediate gift of God. 

Now, while the inward power of sensation, con¬ 
sidered as one of the ordinances of the Almighty, is a 
subject worthy of deep contemplation, it is no less 
interesting to reflect on the five distinct channels 
through which this single faculty is brought into 
action—the touch, the taste, the smell, the sight, and 
the hearing. How definite is each of these senses in 
its own nature and character ; and, if denied by Pro¬ 
vidence, how impossible to be acquired or even con¬ 
ceived ! Yet how exactly are they severally fitted to 
the way of life ordained for the conscious inhabitants 
of the planet on which we dwell! 

It is a delightful evidence of the benevolence of our 
Creator, that all our organs of sense are so framed as 
to be productive of pleasure. Not one bone, or muscle, 
or nerve, indeed, has ever been discovered, in any kind 
of animal, of which the natural tendency is the inflic¬ 
tion of pain on its possessor—all are made to produce 
pleasurable sensations. True, indeed, it is that each of 
our five senses may be grievously offended ; that the 
organs of animal bodies are capable of derangement 
and disease; and that the destruction of one living 
creature by another, is one of the laws through which 
an inscrutable Providence maintains the order of 
nature. But while, in the sufferings which are thus 
occasioned, we may perhaps trace one mark of a fallen 
and degenerate world, it is nevertheless obvious, even 


12 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


here, that the happiness of conscious living creatures is 
the object of the divine economy : pleasure is the rule, 
and pain only the exception. 

The law of mutual destruction, in the lower animal 
creation, is, indeed, the law of life. Were that law 
reversed, and were these sentient creatures left to the 
slow operation of disease and decay, the sufferings of 
those animals which now exist would he vastly aggra¬ 
vated ; pestilence would spread on every side, and the 
pleasure of existence itself would soon be fearfully 
curtailed. Who can listen to the songster ot the grove, 
or to the lark which carols in high air—who can 
witness the smooth and e..sy flight of myriads of birds ; 
the happy gliding rapidity of countless fishes ; the 
dance of millions of insects in the sunbeam—without 
confessing that great are the pleasures which their 
Creator has bestowed upon them—that the painful but 
unforeseen stroke which may soon consign them to 
nonentity, is as a cypher in comparison with the un¬ 
reckoned sum of their enjoyment ? 

While the five senses are the common property of 
the generality of animals, the 'proportionate strength 
in which they are severally imparted, corresponds with 
the peculiar need of each particular species. In man, 
indeed, they all maintain an even standard of excel¬ 
lence ; but who cannot trace the marks of adapting 
wisdom and watchful benevolence, in the protected and 
limited vision of the mole, in the far-seeing eye of the 
eagle, in the quick hearing of the hare, and in the 
vivacious smelling of the hound ? 

4. The fourth leading feature in the capacities of 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


13 


animals, is one which indicates, with peculiar clear¬ 
ness, the all-pervading mind, the ever-acting hand, of 
Deity. That feature is instinct. 

Among the things “ little upon the earth,” yet “ ex¬ 
ceeding wise,” the writer of Proverbs makes mention of 
the ant and the spider and the discoveries of modern 
naturalists fully confirm this character. Most of the 
various species of ants are celebrated for their skill in 
building subterraneous cities ; and nothing can exceed 
the industry and watchfulness with which they carry 
on their masonry, and tend the young of their queen. 
“Every evening, an hour before sun-set, they regu¬ 
larly move the whole brood, together with the eggs 
and pupae, to cells situated in the lower part of the 
nest, where they will be safe from the cold ; and, in 
the morning, they as constantly remove them again 
towards the surface of the nest.” 2 In a well-stocked 
nest or city , the brood will amount to about 8000 in 
number, and the whole of this multitude is fed by the 
working ants several times in the day, with a viscid 
fluid which they inject into their mouths individually. 3 
It is a curious circumstance that ants possess the power 
of mutual communication, so as to be able to give 
notice to each other of the approach of some hostile 
tribe, and of issuing their commands to the servants of 
the colony. The noiseless touch appears with them to 
serve the purpose of man’s vociferous tongue. 

The white ants of tropical climates (insects of about 
a quarter of an inch in length) erect domes of prodigious 

1 Prov. xxx, 24—28. 2 Kirby and Spence, vol. i, p. 367. 

3 Idem, p. 368. 


14 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


strength and thickness, and several feet high. These 
domes are furnished with vaults, passages, and cells, 
suited for the stowage of the young, and for a variety 
of other purposes. Were we to erect houses in the 
same proportionate height in relation to the length of 
our bodies, they would be fifteen times as high as the 
monument in London ! 1 

The thread of a spider, although little more than just 
perceptible to the human eye, is spun with astonishing 
skill, and is, in fact, a cable, said to be composed of 
four thousand cords. 2 Supported by this wondrous 
manufacture, the spider requires no wings, and can 
attach herself, without difficulty, to the “palaces of 
kings.” And what can be more curiously artificial 
than the nets which these animals hang up in conve¬ 
nient places in order to catch their prey—sometimes 
formed in meshes, and sometimes composed geometri¬ 
cally of diverging radii, filled up with a beautiful series 
of concentric circles? 3 

But the wisdom of the ant and the spider is not their 
own. Each practises her art by intuition, without the 
least knowledge of its rules ; and while their energy is 
excited by appetite, or even prompted by intention, 
they can be regarded only as the blind executors of 
their Maker’s will. Not indeed that we are to consider 
them as mere machines set to work, and kept in motion, 
by an immediate impulse of divine power, but rather 
as gifted with certain capacities which adapt them to 

1 See Library of Entertaining Knowledge , “ Insect Architecture,” 
p. 287. 2 Kirby and Spence, vol. i, p. 507. 3 Kirby and Spence, 
vol. i, p. 410. 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


15 


the circumstances in which God has placed them, and 
which they are enabled to exercise spontaneously. 
Both the propensity and the power are bestowed on the 
animal, and form part of its constitution; hut the art 
or science displayed in their methods of carrying their 
purposes into effect, belongs only to the Creator. 

Instinct is a faculty incapable of being improved by 
education. It operates without the force of example, 
without the instruction of parents, without the forma¬ 
tion of habit. 

From generation to generation, from age to age, 
without teaching, and without alteration, either for the 
better or the worse, the various tribes of animals 
pursue their respective functions, and exercise the arts 
of which God has made them capable. The human 
infant, like the young of lower animals, seeks the 
breast of its mother, and forms its lips for suction. 
The silk-worm, to all appearance one of the meanest 
of grubs, constructs its warm cocoon, and spins its 
thousand feet of thread, with a delicacy and ingenuity 
which man cannot rival. The migratory birds behave 
as if they were weather-wise, and skilled in nautical 
science: they have something within them, which 
teaches them when to leave one part of the world, and 
how to find their way to another. A young pair of 
linnets or thrushes let loose from a cage in which they 
have been confined from their birth, will build their 
nests in the same situations, with the same materials, 
and with the same skill and symmetry, as their fore¬ 
fathers did before them. The domestic hen, a dull 
bird in other respects, would appear to be well ac- 


16 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


quainted with the theory of heat; for she turns her 
eggs with the greatest accuracy, so that every part of 
them may partake of the genial warmth of her body. 

Birds which feed on snails or shell-fish, will lift them 
to a considerable height in the air, and then let them 
fall on stony places, that the shells may be broken and 
their prey laid open. 

One kind of bee displays the art of a carpenter; a 
second, that of a mason ; a third, that of an upholsterer. 
The beavers, which set us an example of peaceable 
social life, are skilful sawyers, builders, and engineers. 
By gradual and united efforts, they often fell a tree of 
large dimensions, and always in such a manner that it 
falls in the right direction. The vast dams which by 
this and other means they raise across rivers, and which 
secure for them a pool to dwell in, are formed on the 
most scientific principles, and are furnished with 
sloping holes, (contracted or enlarged as occasion re¬ 
quires,) which carry off the surplus water. Their 
houses are built with admirable firmness against the 
banks of the river, and are plastered with the greatest 
neatness ; they are provided with doors of entrance or 
egress, towards both land and water, with stories and 
chambers suited to a family, and with carpets of leaves 
and branches. 1 

In order, however, to form a just notion of the 
operation of instinct, nothing can be more to our pur¬ 
pose than to reflect for a few moments on the wonders 
of the honey-comb. Were we to inquire of the 
geometer, into what equal and similar figures a plane 
1 See Rees’ Cyclop., art. “Castor.” 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


17 


can be divided, so that all interstices should be avoided, 
he would presently tell us that there exist only three 
such figures—the equilateral triangle, the square, and 
the regular hexagon ; and were we further to ask him 
which of these figures would afford the greatest 
strength, and the most ample room for stowage, he 
would reply—“the last of the three.” Now, this is 
precisely the figure which the common hive-bee has 
adopted for her cell. The plane presented to the eye 
by the section of a honey-comb, is divided, with the 
utmost exactness, into regular hexagons ; and these 
are so arranged, with respect to each other, as to 
ensure the greatest possible degree of stability. The 
angular bottom of each cell rests on the partition 
between two other cells, and thus is furnished with a 
firm buttress on either side. 

Our next question must be addressed not to the mere 
disciple of Euclid, but to the profound mathematician. 
Supposing a space of solid measurement to be composed 
of hexagonal cells, at what precise angle ought the 
three planes, which compose the bottom of a cell, to 
meet, so as to effect the greatest possible saving of 
labour and material ? The celebrated Maclaurin has 
determined this question by a fluxionary calculation; 
and has proved that the angle required is precisely 
that in which the three planes at the bottom of a cell 
in the honey-comb do actually meet 1 

From these facts, it seems impossible to avoid 
deducing one of two inferences ; either that the bee is 
a proficient in superficial and solid geometry, and even 
1 See Dr. Hancock, on Instinct , p. 19. 

C 


18 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


in high mathematics, or that she is guided in her work, 
and qualified for its instinctive performance, by the 
Father and Fountain of science. But the art displayed 
in the honey-comb is no less admirable than the 
science. What means the architectural perfection of 
this insect-edifice ? What the even and unfailing 
measurement of all its parts ? It seems impossible to 
account for these effects, either by the structure of a 
bee’s body, or by the powers of its mind. If so, we 
must ascribe them immediately to the wisdom and 
power of Him by whom the bee is created. 

“ Profound geometer, who taught the bee 
To mimic science, and to rival thee ; 

With even hexagons to fill the plane— 

Thus ample room with utmost strength to gain ; 

Nor fill the plane alone: through all the mass 
No waste of substance, and no loss of space; 

Each cell descending in the angle true, 

That great Maclaurin by his fluxions knew ? 

•..« The appointed customs of each busy kind 
Display the working of thy master mind ; 

Fountain of science, Spring of all that’s wise, 

Thy moving power their energy supplies .... 

Wisdom of God, high partner of his throne, 

The Father’s pleasure—with the Father one; 

From thee of beauty flow the varied streams, 

With marks of thee exuberant nature teems ; 

Thy influence spreads above, around, below—- 
The best philosophy is thee to know.” 


Before we leave this branch of our subject, there is 
one additional point which requires to be noticed—a 
point which obviously confirms the view now taken. 
To a certain extent, instinct is capable of accommoda- 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


19 


tion, and changes with the circumstances of the 
animal. For example, if the young of birds be ex¬ 
posed in a cage, beyond the time when, according to 
the usual course of nature, they cease to be the objects 
of parental care, the mother-bird will continue to 
attend to them—will still display her affection by sup¬ 
plying them with provision. Not long since, a turkey- 
cock, in the neighbourhood of London, hatched the 
eggs of its dead hen, and afterwards performed the 
whole maternal office of nursing and protecting the 
young brood. Again, in countries infested with 
monkeys, birds which, in other regions, build in bushes 
or clefts of trees, suspend their nests upon slender 
twigs, and by this device elude the rapacity of their 
enemies—a practice adopted by the youngest pairs, as 
well as by the more experienced. Thus, also, spiders 
are observed to change their method of attack and 
capture, so as to suit the size and character of the 
different insects on which they feed. These curious 
variations display, in a remarkable manner, the pliant 
hand of an ever-watchful Providence. 

5. The accommodation of instinct, however, although 
perceptible in a variety of examples, does not appear 
to be the means most generally employed by the 
Author of nature for adapting his animal creation to 
change of condition and circumstance. For this pur¬ 
pose he has implanted in living creatures the faculty of 
habit, through which they obtain an increased facility 
in performing particular actions, by means of frequently 
repeating them. 

This faculty, which is no less indicative of the wis- 

c 2 


20 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


dom of the Creator, no less inexplicable on the princi¬ 
ples of the atheist, than instinct itself, is by no means 
easy to he traced in the smaller and more inconspicuous 
tribes—insects, for example. But in creatures of a 
larger size, whose actions are more easily noticed, it 
becomes sufficiently apparent, especially in connection 
with the change which every animal must undergo 
from youth to maturity. The lialf-fledged bird is in 
some measure under the instruction, as well as the 
care, of its parent; and it is by repeated attempts—its 
wings and ^feathers growing the while—that it forms 
the habit of flying. While a prisoner in the nest, it 
wholly depends on the parent for sustenance; but as 
its range of liberty and power increases, it becomes 
habituated to procure food for itself- Birds which 
sing learn their art by degrees, and are often known to 
practise it under parental tuition. The powers of 
motion in young quadrupeds, and their ability to seek 
and eat the food of the grown-up animal, appear to be 
formed in like manner, not merely by the growth of 
their members, but chiefly by that repeated exercise 
of them, which renders the action easy, and by degrees 
fixes the custom. 

Nor can we confine the influence of habit, in dumb 
animals, to the period of their growth. With beasts as 
well as men, sagacity and prudence are often the re¬ 
sults of continued experience. A horse, accustomed 
to the field, is well acquainted with the extent of his 
own powers, and will cautiously avoid a leap which is 
above his force and ability. An old greyhound will 
trust the more arduous part of the chase to his younger 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


21 


companions, and while he avoids fatigue, will gain his 
object by meeting the hare in her doubles. 

It is a curious fact, that just in proportion as the 
lower animals are brought under the care of their 
lordly superior, man , they lose the faculty of instinct, 
and gain that of habit; and although it may not 
always be easy to trace the influence of habit, in 
the natural actions of animals, it becomes abundantly 
evident in the process of domestic training. This 
remark, however, is intended to apply rather to those 
animals which are the servants of man, for continued 
use or amusement, than to those which he keeps and 
nurtures only for his table ; for the latter, while their 
powers of instinct decay, generally appear to gain 
nothing in return, but an increase of flesh. But to 
watch the mental operations, simple and limited as 
they are, of the horse, the dog, or the elephant ; to 
mark the effect produced on these animals by a kind 
and persevering discipline; to observe the docility 
with which they learn to renounce their natural pro¬ 
pensities, and to adopt a course of actions useful to 
man; to trace the change from difficulty to ease, and 
from pain to apparent pleasure, in the performance of 
these actions—is one of the most delightful studies of 
the naturalist and the metaphysician. 

There can be no doubt that the natural tendency of 
the pointer or setter is to pursue his game without 
interruption, and it may probably suit him at times to 
crouch on the ground, in concealment, that he may 
spring upon it the more surely. But his systematic 
use of this method, and his steady continuance in a 


22 


CAPACITIES OF ANIMALS, 


position of restraint until his master overtakes him, 
and destroys the prey in his stead, is plainly an affair 
of education and habit. The elephant is not only sub¬ 
jected to military discipline, but is trained without 
difficulty to the arts of peace. “ He lades a boat in a 
river with surprising dexterity, carefully keeping all 
the articles dry, and disposing them so judiciously 
that their arrangement seldom needs to be changed. 
In raising wheeled carriages, heavily laden, up an 
aclivity, he pushes the carriage forward with his front, 
advances, supports it with his knee, and renews the 
effort. When dragging a beam of wood along the 
ground, he removes obstacles to make it run smoothly 
and easily.” 1 

A friend of mine was in possession of a tortoise, 
which, although accustomed, during the summer, to 
live abroad in the fields, was sure to seek an asylum, 
as winter approached, by his master’s fireside. Every 
day, however, at a certain time, he sallied forth in 
search of food and exercise; and after ranging for two 
or three hours, returned with the greatest regularity 
to his place of warmth and safety. “ A few years ago, 
there was shown at Exeter Change, London, an old 
monkey, who, having lost his teeth, used, when nuts 
were presented to him, to take a stone in his hand, 
and crack them one by one; thus using means to 
accomplish his purpose as well as we do.” 2 

These examples, and many others of a similar cha¬ 
racter, are sufficient to prove that the habits formed by 

1 Dr. Hancock on Instinct , p. 94. 2 Vide Rees’ Cyclop., art. 

“ Instinct” 


INCLUDING HABIT. 


23 


domesticated animals are not purely physical. They 
are obviously connected with the association of ideas, 
and involve memory, and possibly some limited degree 
of the power of reasoning. Their tempers and dis¬ 
positions also are subject to the influence of custom, 
and are capable of training and improvement. How 
often do they form habits of affection, gratitude, and 
faithfulness, towards those who have the care of them! 
It would be difficult to find, even in our own species, 
more affecting examples of attachment and fidelity, than 
in the elephant who died of grief, after he had acci¬ 
dentally killed his keeper, and in the dog who watched 
for three months, over the remains of his master, among 
the rocks of Helvellyn. 

As a general rule, it is evident that where instinct 
is the main characteristic of an animal, and is left to 
exert its native sway, there habit has only a very 
partial influence; and that, on the contrary, where 
instinct gives place to the glimmerings of reason, and is 
weakened by taming and discipline, there habit becomes 
a ruling and pervading principle. The more intelli¬ 
gent the animal—the greater its power of associating 
ideas—the less it stands in need of instinct, and the 
more it becomes capable of forming habits. Above 
all, in man, in whom reason reigns, there are but small 
traces of pure instinct, and these belong chiefly to his 
infancy. But use , as I shall soon proceed to show, is 
his second nature. 

On the review of the several points detailed in the 
present section—of the wondrous exactness with which 
inanimate nature is suited to the needs of living crea- 


24 


HABIT IN MAN. 


tures—of the fitness of their respective capacities to 
the way of life appointed for each of them; in struc¬ 
ture, in organic action, in sense, and in instinct—and 
lastly, of the method in which, through the faculty of 
habit, they are adapted to every successive change in 
their condition—we may well feel constrained to join 
with the Psalmist in his words of wonder and praise: 
“0 Lord, how manifold are thy works; in wisdom 

hast thou made them all.The glory of the Lord 

shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his 
works.” 1 


SECTION II. 

On Habit in Man. 

While we are led by a variety of facts, familiar to the 
most cursory observer, to ascribe to many of the lower 
animals such a glimmering of reason as leads them to 
adopt means in order to accomplish ends , we must not 
forget that the line which separates them from the 
human species is broad and impassable. Although, in 
the first place, individuals among them, under the 
fostering care of man, form many useful habits, and 
experience some enlargement of faculty, they have no 
means of transmitting these advantages to their posterity; 
they are capable of no generic improvement. The 
race of elephants, of dogs, or of horses, in point of 
knowledge and endowment, is precisely the same now 
as it was a thousand years ago—a fact, which, although 
closely connected with their want of language, can by 

1 Psalm civ, 24, 31. 




HABIT IN MAN. 


25 


no means be ascribed to it. This want must rather be 
regarded as a second mark of the narrow limits within 
which the Creator has circumscribed their mental 
faculties; for we know that some animals possess organs 
which enable them to pronounce articulate sounds. 

Of the higher exercises of mind, such as reflection, 
abstraction, and generalization, and of any but the 
shortest processes of reasoning, they are, in all proba¬ 
bility, wholly incapable; and this conclusion obviously 
agrees with their habits of life. For their bodies they 
demand no clothing, and for their food no cooking; the 
erect posture, so suitable to rational beings, is for the 
most part strange to them. Expressive as their looks 
and sounds sometimes are, they probably enjoy only a 
very low degree of social communion. Above all, 
while they are under the natural government of God, 
and blindly obey its laws, they are incapable of know¬ 
ing, and therefore of worshipping, their Creator. They 
have no lot or part in his moral government. They 
have no law of righteousness written on their hearts, 
and therefore no responsibility. They are subject to 
no bar of inquiry—to no tribunal of divine justice. 

Satisfactorily to account for their consciousness, and 
for their measure of mental power, on the principles 
of mere materialism, does indeed appear to be impossi¬ 
ble. But we have no reason to believe that their minds 
are formed for immortality: and the Holy Scriptures, 
by giving no countenance whatsoever to such a notion, 
may at least be said to indicate the contrary. They 
do, indeed, go further; they contrast “the spirit of the 
beast that goeth downward to the earth,” with “the 


26 


HABIT IN MAN. 


spirit of man that goeth upward j” 1 they speak with 
peculiar emphasis of the “beasts that perish ;” 2 and 
the divine grant which they record of animals to man, 
for his food , in itself affords a strong presumptive 
evidence that these living creatures are no heirs of 
eternity. 3 

But man was “created in the image” and “after the 
likeness” of God 4 —a declaration which involves the 
doctrine, elsewhere unfolded in Scripture, that an im¬ 
mortal spirit is his portion. He is appointed to rule 
over the lower animals. His soul is so enlightened by 
reason, that he can be taught to exercise all its purer 
and loftier powers. He is capable of an indefinite 
degree of mental cultivation, and can transmit to his 
descendants all his improvements in manners, all his 
discoveries in art or science. He can clothe his thoughts 
in language; and his speech is capable of an almost in¬ 
finite variety. This pliant system of audible and legible 
signs, not only affords him an endless scope in the acquire¬ 
ment of knowledge, but supplies a machinery for 
thought and reflection, as useful for these purposes as 
arithmetical figures, algebraic signs, and logarithms are 
in mathematics. Above all, he is capable of fearing, 
loving, and worshipping his Creator, and of receiving 
the illumination of God’s Holy Spirit. He is furnished 
with a moral faculty; he is called to virtue and glory; 
and in a future and eternal world, he must render to 
the Judge of all flesh the account of his stewardship. 

There is one feature, however, in the constitution 
and circumstances of mankind, which, on the present 

1 Eccl. iii, 21. 2 Psalm xlix, 12. 3 Gen. ix, 3. 4 Gen. i, 26. 


HABIT IN MAN. 


27 


occasion, demands a particular notice. Of all the 
creatures of God, with which we are acquainted, he is 
the most exposed to change of condition, and the most 
capable of corresponding alterations in character and 
practice. 1 Just in proportion to the scope of his 
rational and moral faculties, are the versatility of his 
constitution and the variations in his way of life. And 
in a pre-eminent degree it is the law of his nature, that 
one stage of his being should serve as a preparation for 
another. On a protected and regulated infancy, de¬ 
pends a healthy and happy boyhood ; on a boyhood well 
governed and instructed the vigour and virtue of early 
maturity; on that vigour and virtue the usefulness and 
stability of middle life; and on these again the comfort 
and tranquillity of age. Above all, under the mercy 
and grace of God, the present life, rightly spent, is a 
pathway to the ‘‘holiest place of all”—a preparation for 
the glory and bliss of heaven. 

Of what incalculable importance then to such a 
creature as man, i3 the law of habit—the law ordained 
by the Author of our nature, that every exertion , 
either of body or mind , should become easier by repeti¬ 
tion; that, in other words, an aptitude and disposition 
for any action , whether bodily or mental , should be 
formed in us by the frequent performance of the action 
itself. This is the law by which we are enabled to fall 

1 Some of the insect tribes may perhaps he considered as afford¬ 
ing an exception to this remark; but the caterpillar, the grub, and 
the butterfly, can scarcely he regarded as one and the same crea¬ 
ture. We describe them by different names, and may fairly regard 
them as different creatures, springing one from the other. 


28 


HABIT IN MAN. 


in, by degrees, with every change in our condition; to 
qualify ourselves for the general purposes of life, and 
for the peculiar functions of our calling; to store our 
minds with knowledge; to form our manners; and, with 
divine aid, to improve and regulate our tempers and 
dispositions. Finally, this law, under the influence of 
the Holy Spirit, is applied to its highest purpose, in 
that process of sanctification, by which the believing 
and obedient soul is gradually purified from sin, and 
prepared for the element of a holier world. 

Again, how awful is the consideration, that the 
faculty of habit is capable of being completely mis¬ 
applied, and of working with undiminished vigour in 
an opposite direction! 

Why actions become easier in consequence of being 
repeated is a question which scarcely belongs to fair 
metaphysical science. It is, as I have stated above, 
an ordinance of the Deity, and is no more capable of 
being explained, except by a direct reference to his 
will, than the law of gravitation. Our proper busi¬ 
ness is to attend to facts—to examine the practical 
effects of this law, and the manner in which it ope¬ 
rates—to detect the dangers which attend its perversion 
—and to point out how it may be best applied to our 
substantial welfare, in relation both to the present life 
and to an eternal future. 

1. The subject may, in the first place, be illustrated 
by a reference to habits simply bodily; for the organs 
of the body are as much the subjects of this pervading 
law as the capacities of the mind. Some habits of 
this description are formed at so early a stage of 


HABIT IN MAN. 


29 


infancy, and become so purely mechanical and involun¬ 
tary, that they can scarcely be distinguished from 
original organic actions. The closing of the eyelids, 
for example, is a habit gradually formed in the infant, 
by the impulse of light upon the organs of vision: 
and so perfect does this habit become, that we close 
our eyelids thousands of times every day without 
being aware of the action. 

What a lesson may we learn from this single cir¬ 
cumstance respecting the tendency of that mysterious 
law, which is still the same in its nature, whether it be 
applied to the body or to the mind—to things physical, 
intellectual, or moral! 

Just in the same manner in which we become 
accustomed to perform the useful office of closing our 
eyelids, and afterwards perform the action without 
perceiving it, do we sometimes contract a variety of 
personal habits, which are quite useless, and perhaps 
deforming. These often arise, in the first instance, 
from accidental causes; and afterwards, from frequent 
repetition, become involuntary and mechanical. How 
often do we perceive in grown-up persons some pecu¬ 
liar gait or gesture—some motion of the eye, the 
mouth, or the hand—which they have learned in boy¬ 
hood, practise without knowing it, and carry about 
with them to their dying day ! 

Other corporeal habits, although familiar in the 
greatest degree, continue nevertheless to be under the 
guidance of the will. For example, the use of the 
teeth in eating and of the legs in walking. Neither 
of these practices is original; they are both learned in 


30 


HABIT IN MAN. 


early life, and are not to be mistaken for mere instincts. 
What beautiful examples of the effect of habit on the 
functions of the body—of its power to render difficult 
exertions easy, and awkward motions graceful, and to 
convert even pain into pleasure—are afforded us by 
the experienced swimmer or skater ? 

2. Many of the habits which men are accustomed to 
form, operate at once on the body and the mind. A 
curious example of this nature is to be observed in the 
art of seeing —an example which affords a proof that 
mental as well as bodily functions may, from long 
custom, be exercised imperceptibly to ourselves. We, 
of course, ascribe the effect we call seeing to the 
internal power of vision, in connexion with the out¬ 
ward organ. But to see things as they really are— 
that is, to perceive, by the sight of their true size, 
their relative positions, and their comparative dis¬ 
tances—is a matter of habit, in which (though we are 
not aware of it) the mind and the judgment are full as 
much concerned as the eye. It is the result of per¬ 
petual repetition and of long experience. 

What a countless number of objects, of various 
sizes and descriptions, does the eye embrace, in what 
we are accustomed to deem a single act of vision! 
Yet metaphysicians tell us that all these objects are 
perceived in succession, and that the sight of each of 
them, and of every perceptible part of each of them, 
is preceded by a distinct though unknown exertion 
of the mind and of the will. 1 This notion, which 
some persons may regard as purely hypothetical, 

1 See Dugald Stewart on the Human Mind , vol. i, p. 130. 


habit in man. 


31 


derives considerable support from the analogy of other 
human actions, in which the faculties of the mind and 
the organs of the body—both under the influence of 
habit—are known to move on together with astonish¬ 
ing rapidity. 

A merchant’s clerk, accustomed to add up long 
lines of figures, employs his eye, his hand, and his 
mind, in the operation. These keep even pace with 
each other, as he goes on from figure to figure, and 
the rapidity with which they move, soon renders him 
unconscious of that distinct act of his will, by which 
every step in the calculation is unquestionably pre¬ 
ceded. 

How rapidly will the ready writer fill the sheet which 
he is about to transmit to a brother or a friend ! What 
a multitude of muscles, tendons, and nerves, he presses 
into the service ! How almost incalculable the number 
of distinct motions of the hand, whereby he forms all 
the characters of which his letter is composed, and 
with what incredible versatility do his mind and will 
accompany him in every step of the process ! Now 
every one knows that all these wonders—and wonders 
they truly may be called—are the simple effect of 
habit. 

In reading aloud, in conversation, in exhortation, in 
debate, how volubly do we pour forth words! And 
how little do we dream of the multitudinous fibres in 
the tongue, which we are keeping in constant motion; 
or of the voluntary effort of the mind, which precedes 

every turn and modulation of the sound! Again_ 

nothing can be more curious than the manner in which, 


32 


HABIT IN MAN. 


under the influence of habit, our thoughts and our words 
become married to each other, and flow on together in 
perfect unison. 

A due consideration of the habits of art, which for 
the most part require the joint action of our bodily and 
mental powers, is indeed of great importance to our 
present subject. Some of them, such as reading and 
writing, are adapted to the general use of men; but for 
the most part they are the means of qualifying us for 
some peculiar station or service in life. Certain it is 
that no art can be rightly applied without a practical 
knowledge of its rules; nor can we forget the advan¬ 
tage to the artificer himself, of a scientific acquaintance 
with its principles; but it is the influence of habit—it 
is the sure though gradual effect of repeated trial— 
which surmounts the difficulties of the work, renders 
it plain and familiar, and crowns the efforts of the 
workman with uniform success. Were it not for this 
pervading law of nature and Providence, the various 
wants of civilized society could never be supplied. 
The world would be deprived of the experienced hus¬ 
bandman, the skilful mechanic, the expert mariner, 
and the dexterous surgeon. We should have no 
ceiled houses to dwell in, no glass for our windows, no 
ships for the commerce of nations, no manufactured 
stuffs, no artificial clothing. By a rapid and untimely 
change we should presently fall back into the condi¬ 
tion of the lowest tribes of savages. 

The beneficial effect of custom, in works of art, is 
very conspicuous in the division of labour . By this 
system, the faculty which each individual possesses of 


HABIT IN MAN. 


33 


forming a habit of art, instead of being weakened by 
distraction, is made to bear with undivided force on a 
particular object. The cutting, the pointing, the silver¬ 
ing, and the heading of a pin, are severally the single 
object of a workman’s attention. Each person estab¬ 
lishes his own habit, and by the combined efforts of all, 
the article is produced in its perfection. 

It has often been remarked that the frequent repeti¬ 
tion of an action, not only renders it easy, but engen¬ 
ders in the mind a proneness to perform it. To this 
feature in the general law of custom, habits of art are 
considered, by some writers, to offer an exception ; but 
although many of the arts of life are laborious to the 
performer, and from peculiar causes may sometimes 
become distasteful, I cannot allow the exception to be 
valid. It is unquestionably the effect of custom to 
render exertions of mind or body, which are in the 
first instance painful as well as difficult, not only easy 
but pleasant; and no sooner is this pleasure felt, than 
an inclination is produced in the mind to obtain it— 
we become more and more attracted to the pursuit. 
That this is true, as it regards the fine arts , every one 
knows ; and with respect to those of a rougher and 
more toilsome nature, they who willingly submit to 
that divine decree which demands the sweat of man’s 
brow for the earning of his bread, will find it allevi¬ 
ated by an attendant provision of mercy. Their work 
will be rendered agreeable, just in proportion as it 
becomes habitual. 

3. The exertion of any one of our intellectual 
faculties is as much an action of the man as the 

D 


34 


HABIT IN MAN. 


motion of our teeth in eating, or of our legs in walk¬ 
ing ; and such exertion is perpetually taking place in 
us without any corresponding movement of our out¬ 
ward frame. Hence it follows, according to general 
principles of the law of habit, that we are capable of 
forming many customs of a nature purely intellectual, 
and these may either afford us important advantages, 
or involve us in grievous loss and inconvenience. 
Were mankind more generally sensible of this truth, 
they would exercise a greater watch over their mental 
processes, and over the multitude of the thoughts 
within them ! 

A few examples of intellectual habits will be suffi¬ 
cient to illustrate the subject. 

The power by which the mind perceives and observes 
an object which is present to the external organs of 
sense, and the power by which it afterwards conceives 
the same object, when those organs can no longer 
reach it, are faculties which grow weaker by neglect, 
and stronger by cultivation. The habits of accurate 
perception and observation, and of vivid conception, 
are all of them of great importance to the purposes of 
life ; and the two former are essential to the last. The 
more diligent and exact the use which we make of our 
senses, the stronger and more faithful will be our 
mental imitations of that which we have already per¬ 
ceived. 

The faculty of attention , whereby the mind directs 
itself to any idea which may be presented to it, detains 
that idea in its passage, examines it carefully, and 
records it on the tablets of the memory, is one which, 





HABIT IN MAN. 


35 


although a part of our nature, is peculiarly liable to 
weakness and decay. It may, indeed, be said, more or 
less, to lie waste, from neglect, in the mind of almost 
every man. Nevertheless the habit of attention is 
capable of being formed and nurtured ; and when the 
faculty of thus applying the mind to its object is 
strengthened by a daily diligence, the practice of it— 
fraught with usefulness—becomes comparatively easy. 
To change the objects of our attention, and to give the 
whole mind to each object in succession, is another 
attainment of great use in life, and mainly depends on 
custom. The ease with which many minds turn from 
from one occupation to another, or in one word, versa - 
tility, is the result partly perhaps of genius, but chiefly 
of long engagement in the rapid affairs of life. It is 
as much the effect of habit, as the ever-varying adjust¬ 
ments of a balancer, or the legerdemain of a conj uror. 

When we have once received any particular ideas 
into the mind, we form an acquaintance with them, 
and on our meeting with them again, we recognize 
them. When moreover we have met with them re¬ 
peatedly, and thought of them frequently, our know¬ 
ledge of them becomes so familiar, that they are often 
recalled to the mind at a moment’s notice. Such is 
the operation of memory , which must therefore be re¬ 
garded as analogous in its very nature to the faculty 
of habit. Certain it is, however, that our power of 
retaining and recalling ideas is peculiarly subject to 
the sway of custom : it is soon weakened by disuse, 
and as readily strengthened by practice. A susceptible, 
retentive, and ready memory, must indeed be con 

D 2 


36 


HABIT IN MAN. 


sidered as in part depending on physical causes ; but 
to a great extent it is the result, first, of close atten¬ 
tion, and secondly, of diligent exercise and frequent 
recollection. 

To ascend from individual objects to abstract ideas, 
and from particular facts to general truths, is the province 
and pleasure of the philosopher. These are the means 
by which he is enabled to arrange and classify nature, 
and to discover the laws by which she is governed. 
On the other hand, the man who is engaged in the 
active business of life, is incessantly occupied with 
details. He is constantly dealing with individual 
things, persons, and facts, and can spare but a small 
portion either of time or thought, for abstracting and 
generalizing. 

The undeviating effect of each of these pursuits— 
philosophy or business—is to form its corresponding 
habit of mind ; and in both cases the habit requires to 
be checked by a wholesome counteraction. The philo¬ 
sopher who is not conversant with particular facts, 
and accurate in examining them, will soon fall into 
false conclusions; and the man of business who forms 
no general conclusions, will as speedily involve himself 
in practical mischief. 

Reasoning and imagination will supply us with 
additional examples. The faculty by which we com¬ 
pare our ideas, deduce one proposition from another, 
and thus make progress in the discovery of truth; and 
that by which we select from the realities around us, 
the ideas which strike our fancy, and weave them, at 
our pleasure, into a new creation, have each a wide 


HABIT IN MAN. 


37 


range in our nature, and exercise a most important in¬ 
fluence over our condition and destiny. Both however 
bow with submission to the sceptre of habit. Who 
has not observed the difference between the man in 
whom the reasoning faculty has long been lulled to 
sleep, and his neighbour, who delights to employ him¬ 
self in the weighing of evidence, and in the investiga¬ 
tion of truth ? How different, again, is the habitual 
mental complexion of the judge or of the mathemati¬ 
cian, from that of the individual who is constantly 
engaged in weaving the web of fiction, or in stringing 
the gems of poetry! 

When a man long accustomed to calculation and 
demonstration, can no longer appreciate moral and 
probable evidence, or loses his relish for the objects of 
a refined taste, he affords us a teaching evidence that 
the exclusive pursuit even of very sober studies may 
be fraught with loss and danger. Such must have 
been the case with a celebrated mathematician at 
Cambridge, who is said to have declared that he took 
no pleasure whatsoever in Virgil , “ because he proved 
nothing.” On the other hand, how imperceptible in 
its progress, how fascinating in its operation, how 
weakening to all our better faculties, is an uncon¬ 
trolled imagination ? To strengthen our reasoning 
powers, and at the same time to confine them within 
their true limits; and to subdue the imagination with¬ 
out destroying its use, or marring its beauty, are 
triumphs over the weakness of our nature which 
(under the divine blessing) can be achieved only by 
habit. 


38 


HABIT IN MAN. 


Th z judgment and the taste are both capable, through 
habit, either of perversion or improvement. A man of 
sanguine temperament, and little disposed to cool reflec¬ 
tion, will often become so habituated to imprudent 
counsels, that the most teaching misfortunes will fail to 
correct his propensity. “ Though thou shouldst bray 
a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will 
not his foolishness depart from him.” 1 So also the man 
of low tastes, however severely punished, will usually 
be found to pursue his customary course of degrading 
pleasure. On the other hand, both these faculties may 
be cultivated in a right direction. The gift of a sound 
judgment, as well as of a pure and discriminating taste, 
may be greatly enlarged by experience and strengthened 
by habitual exercise. 

One more point connected with the subject of intel¬ 
lectual habits, demands our especial attention. The 
thoughts of men follow one another in a train, and 
every thought suggests its successor to the mind. This 
suggestion arises out of some relation between the two, 
such as similarity, contiguity in time or place, contrast, 
cause and effect, or circumstances of a purely arbitrary 
or casual nature, with which any idea may have 
become connected. Although this curious faculty of 
suggestion or association must be regarded as an 
original principle of our nature, both the pace and the 
direction of its movements are extremely dependent on 
habit. Some persons think as well as speak with great 
rapidity; they are practised in that ready perception 
of the relation of ideas, which leads to a quick and ex- 
1 Prov. xxvii, 22. 


HABIT IN MAN. 


39 


tensive association, and the current of their thoughts 
flows like a mountain stream. Through the minds of 
others, thoughts move along at a slow march, and each 
takes its time in suggesting its successor. So also the 
direction of the train depends on the pursuits of the 
thinker. The geologist, the painter, and the political 
economist, are perhaps fellow-travellers through a 
foreign country, and as they keep close company, the 
same objects are presented to the senses of each of 
them; but the first is constantly thinking on the soil 
and the strata, the second on the picturesque beauties 
of the country, and the third on the condition of the 
inhabitants. On their return home, their respective 
journals afford a clear evidence of the influence of 
habit over their mental associations. 

The waking hours of every one are necessarily filled 
with thought; but to think profitably, and to reflect 
deeply—to dismiss our useless or dangerous thoughts 
in an instant, and to detain our useful ones on their pas¬ 
sage, to examine them with watchful care, and to dive 
into their hidden relations—these are mental arts of the 
highest importance to our welfare, and for which, under 
Providence, we are indebted to exercise and custom. 

While, however, it must be allowed that the faculty 
which we possess of associating our ideas, like all our 
other powers, is assisted and directed by custom, it is 
of particular importance to observe that the opera¬ 
tion of habit essentially depends, in many cases, on our 
original faculty of association. 

In connection with every action which we perform, 
a variety of ideas are linked together; when the action 


40 


HABIT IN MAN. 


is repeated this association is confirmed; and by fre¬ 
quent repetition it becomes in the greatest degree 
familiar. The consequence is, that when any circum¬ 
stance recalls any one of these ideas to us, all the rest 
rush into our minds, and by their united force we are 
again propelled to the action. It is evident, therefore, 
that these faculties of our nature act and re-act; and 
while habit rules over association, as it does over all 
our other powers, association may safely be regarded as 
the strength and main-spring of habit. 

4. The preceding remarks respecting our rational 
faculties, and the habits of which they are capable, are 
sufficient to show the subtle and powerful nature of the 
human mind. The more, indeed, we reflect on the 
philosophy of mind, and examine the extent and variety 
of our intellectual operations, the clearer will become 
our conviction that we have within us a living prin¬ 
ciple, destined to survive the wreck of matter, and to 
endure for ever. 

The main distinction, however, of the human soul— 
the ground of its responsibility, and therefore the 
strongest internal evidence of its future life of happiness 
or misery—is the moral faculty by which we are enabled 
to perceive and understand the law of our God. 

God is a holy Being; he has written the law of 
righteousness on the heart of man, and we have every 
reason to believe that this internal revelation is a work 
of that Holy Spirit who has developed the same law, 
in all its branches and particulars, through the medium 
of Scripture. The faculty by which the mind of man 
perceives this law, and is compelled to confess its rec- 


HABIT IN MAN. 


41 


titude, is called the moral sense. This sense enables 
us to distinguish between right and wrong, and so to 
form an estimate, in a moral point of view, of the con¬ 
duct and character of other men; but when it is applied 
to the more important act of judging our own inten¬ 
tions and actions, it assumes the name of conscience. 
Conscience, when truly guided by the Holy Spirit, is 
the representative of God in our bosoms, and ought to 
reign supreme over all our actions, bodily and mental. 

Now it is a consideration of the highest moment that 
the law of habit applies to our moral dispositions and 
conduct, just as certainly as it does to the common 
movements of the body, and to the exertions of intellec¬ 
tual power. On them all it works in the same myste¬ 
rious manner, and with an equal and uniform efficacy. 
It is an awful thought that our responsible and moral 
nature, like every other part of man, is subject to this 
mistress of our powers, either for good or evil. 

In the first place, the conscience itself is as com¬ 
pletely liable to the operation of habit as any other 
faculty of our nature. It is kept alive by the conti¬ 
nual exertion of its power, and by the enforcing of its 
decisions on the practice of the man. The more fre¬ 
quent the victories obtained, through the help of the 
Holy Spirit, by this inward arbiter of our deeds, over 
the perverse inclinations of the heart, and the more 
numerous our acts of obedience to its decrees, the 
greater will become its susceptibility, the quicker and 
more enlightened its judgments. On the other hand, 
if conscience speaks in vain, and fails, even on a single 
occasion, to arrest the course of sin, it is immediately 


42 


HABIT IN MAN. 


weakened; and after the frequent repetition of defeat, 
the power of the judge is lost, and weakness ends in 
death. Such was the condition of those persons of whom 
the apostle says, they had their “consciences seared with 
a hot iron” 1 —a condition from which, without direct 
divine interposition, there could be no recovery. 

Again, by the force of example, education, and 
habit, the conscience may be led in a right direction; 
it may be enlightened and strengthened in its support 
of virtue; or, on the contrary, it may become so strangely 
perverted, as to be constantly forming erroneous deci¬ 
sions. Never, indeed, can this faculty be so reversed 
as to approve of evil because it is evil—to countenance 
falsehood or malice, for example, for its own sake— 
for this would amount to the utter destruction of the 
moral principle. But far too quickly may the conscience 
be taught, upon some false plea, and in conformity to 
its own natural tendency in the fall, to “ call evil good, 
and good evilto “ put darkness for light, and light 
for darkness;” to “put bitter for sweet, and sweet for 
bitter;” 2 and thus, under the pretence of duty, to “draw 
iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a 
cart rope!” 3 

In the second place, particular moral qualifications 
are formed by habit. Behold the man who abounds 
in benevolence. The quality may be natural to him; 
or if something more than natural, partaking in the 
nature of true Christian charity, it must be regarded 
as the effect of grace. In either case, however, the 
large proportion which it occupies in the mental con- 

1 1 Tim. iv, 2. 2 Isaiah v, 20. 3 Isaiah v, 18. 


HABIT IN MAN. 


43 


stitution, is inseparably connected with the oft-repeated 
exertions of the quality itself. Behold the man given 
to covetousness—his niggardly disposition may perhaps 
be a native tendency, but that tendency has assumed 
its full-grown form under the influence of repeated 
acts of parsimony. In the same manner may habits be 
formed either of submission to authority, or of self- 
will and impatience of restraint, of pity or of hard¬ 
heartedness, of malice or forbearance, of meekness or 
forwardness, of humility or self-conceit, of love or 
hatred. Moral qualities become settled in the cha¬ 
racter, partly by means of exertions of the mind alone 
—such as good or evil thought, sinful or virtuous inten¬ 
tion, plans of corrupt indulgence on the one hand, or 
wise and holy resolutions on the other. But chiefly 
are they established through the repetition of overt 
actions—i. e. through the practice —to which these 
mental operations naturally lead. 

Lastly, it is undeniable that the actual moral conduct 
of every man is formed through the operation of habit. 
If we give way to that unlawful indulgence of our 
appetites, which is dictated by our fallen nature, sin 
steals upon us by insensible degrees; each succeeding 
evil action strengthens the disorder of our mental con¬ 
stitution, and we become vicious by custom. If, on 
the contrary, we exercise a just control over our pas¬ 
sions—if we allow that grace, which alone can sanctify, 
to lead us onward from one act of self-denial to another 
—the temptation to evil is weakened by degrees, and 
we form the custom of virtue. The thief, the liar, the 
drunkard, and the murderer, all attain to their acme 


44 


HABIT IN MAN. 


of criminality—the merciful, the beneficent, and the 
holy, all ascend their scale of virtue—by means of the 
silent, yet sure and effective, influence of habit. 

Nor can it be denied that in matters which relate 
exclusively to religion, the sway of habit is still clearly 
manifest. The forgetfulness of God, and a listless 
apathy respecting our future and eternal well-being, 
are constitutional in fallen man, but they are vastly 
strengthened by habit. Every action performed with¬ 
out regard to God, and every day spent without a 
thought of heaven or hell, confirm that frame of ungod¬ 
liness which precedes and bespeaks its awful result— 
even the eternal separation of the soul from its Creator. 
On the other hand, the habitual exercise of holy con¬ 
templation, fervent prayer, faith, obedience, &c., is the 
means by which the Christian grows in grace, and is 
finally prepared for perfect and endless bliss. 

It appears, then, that just in proportion to the 
elevation of man above the lower animals, in point of 
rational and mental power, is the superior degree in 
which he is endowed with the faculty of habit, whereby 
he may be qualified for those numerous and important 
changes of condition which belong to his destiny. 

This faculty is to be regarded as an original part of 
our constitution, for which we can account only by a 
direct reference to the will of the Creator, but of which 
we may easily understand the nature, and examine the 
effects. These have now been traced under several 
distinct heads. 

First, in actions purely bodily—such as the closing 
of the eyelids and other involuntary motions, and in 


HABIT IN MAN. 


45 


the voluntary ones of the teeth, the limbs, &c., in per¬ 
forming their several functions. 

Secondly, in the joint action of body and mind, as 
in seeing aright; in writing, reading, and speaking; 
in studied elocution, and in the whole catalogue of 
human arts. 

Thirdly, in operations entirely mental—for example, 
perception, conception, attention, memory, abstraction, 
reasoning, and imagination, judgment and taste; also 
in the association of ideas, which is itself essential to 
the law of habit, yet subject to its influence. 

Lastly, in moral and spiritual things—in the use or 
disuse, improvement or perversion, of conscience; in 
the dispositions of the heart; in good or evil conduct; 
in the religious or irreligious life. 

Two general observations will now bring this sec¬ 
tion to a conclusion. 

First—“ if the force of custom, simple and separate, 
be great,” says Lord Bacon, 44 the force of custom, 
copulate, and conjoined, and collegiate, is far greater; 
for there example teacheth, company comforteth, emu¬ 
lation quickeneth, glory raiseth; so as in such places 
the force of custom is in its exaltation .” 1 It is indeed 
an obvious truth, that when men are collected in 
society, there are many causes which promote the easy 
formation among them of all kinds of habits. The 
chief cause, however, is example , which exerts an 
amazing influence on all our habits, bodily, intellectual, 
and moral. The power of imitation, aided as it is by 
sympathy, is one of the most influential faculties of our 
nature, and one to the exercise of which there is a 
1 Essays, No. xxxix. 


46 


HABIT IN MAN. 


universal proneness in our species. Instances which 
prove the fact abound on every side of us. Who has 
not observed that peculiarities of manner, voice, and 
expression, as well as particular lines of thought and 
opinion, often pervade a complete family circle ? The 
repeated gape of an individual will sometimes excite 
the yawns of a whole company; and noises or gestures, 
indicative of approval or disapproval, will spread, like 
wild-fire, through a large assembly. The painter, the 
sculptor, and even the poet, form their styles, more or 
less, on the pattern of their predecessors; and not an 
art is practised in civilized society, which does not 
owe much of its progress to the power of copying. 
Whatsoever, indeed, may be the nature of our pur¬ 
suits and engagements, we are prone to mould ourselves 
on the model of other men. In our sentiments, our 
tastes, and our moral conduct, as well as in our arts 
and manners, we are still found to be copyists—imita¬ 
tion and sympathy still display themselves as the 
handmaids and forerunners of habit ! 

Our second remark relates to the extremely gradual 
and subtle manner in which our customs are formed. 
The gesture of body—the mode of thought—the man¬ 
ner of expression—or the line of conduct—steals upon 
us with imperceptible steps, and before we know it, we 
have resigned our freedom; we move along in chains, 
and are no longer the masters of our own actions. 
The growth of habit in a man is like that of a plant 
in his garden—silent and impalpable, yet sure and 
constant; first the stem, then the blossom, and finally, 
in its season, an abundant crop of fruit, whether whole¬ 
some or poisonous, whether sweet or bitter ! 


PASSIVE IMPRESSIONS. 


47 


SECTION III. 

On passive Impressions and active Principles. 

There is one feature in the law of habit so important 
in its operation, and, at the same time, so distinct in its 
nature, that it appears to demand a separate notice. 
Our power of passive sensation is weakened by the re¬ 
petition of impressions, just as certainly as our active 
propensities are strengthened by the repetition of actions. 

This principle appears to be of very general applica¬ 
tion—to the organs of the body, to the powers of the 
mind, to the dispositions of the heart. 

A person afflicted with chronic disease, adopts the 
use of narcotic medicines; but as the doses are re¬ 
peated, he soon finds that the effect of each of them 
diminishes: he is therefore obliged to increase the 
number or quantity of his draughts, in order to make 
up for the decay of the passive impression. For the 
very same reasons the snuff-taker is forced, by the 
tyranny of habit, to recur to his box with an ever- 
increasing frequency; and the gin-drinker, under a 
similar stern compulsion, is sure to multiply and en¬ 
large his potations. In all these cases, there is not 
only a weakening of the bodily organs, but a decay of 
the mental sensation. The power of the medicine is 
less and less felt; the pungency of the powder and the 
fire of the liquor are less and less enjoyed; but the 
craving is increased, the vacuum is enlarged, the active 
propensity is wrought up in the constitution, and the 
man becomes the slave of his habit. 


48 


PASSIVE IMPRESSIONS 


The mental faculties of perception and attention are 
both of them prone to fade under the frequent repeti¬ 
tion of the same impression, and nothing will coun¬ 
teract the effect thus produced, but the formation of 
an active habit. The student is awakened out of his 
slumbers by the alarum at his bedside, and if he forms 
the custom of early rising, the contrivance is success¬ 
ful. Although, as the mornings follow each other, the 
sound becomes less and less striking, the increasing 
energies of his new propensities supply, and more 
than supply, the deficiency. But let him resist the 
impression of his alarum for a few mornings, and his 
slumbers will be no more disturbed ; its voice will 
speak in vain—the ear may receive the sound, but the 
mind will no longer perceive it. 

The road over which a man daily travels, from his 
residence to his place of business, happens to lie 
through beautiful scenery. At first he is delighted 
with the prospects; but, unless he cultivates the habit 
of examining and admiring them, he will soon pass 
along, almost without perceiving them. His mental 
eye will close upon their beauty. 

All men are struck by novelties, whether they are 
visible substances or abstract truths ; but as the new¬ 
ness of the object and the freshness of the idea are 
lessened by repetition, they lose their power of exciting 
our attention. In order to attend to them properly 
we must form a counteracting habit of mental exertion. 

Our emotions of passion and feeling are subject to 
the same rule. What an ardent glow of love is felt 
by two brothers or sisters at the moment of their 


AND ACTIVE PRINCIPLES. 


49 


meeting after a long separation, and how appropriately 
is it represented by the warm and joyful embrace ! 
Yet in a very short time such a token of affection 
would become untimely. Under the influence of con¬ 
tinued intercourse the passive impression is weakened. 
The resistless emotion subsides into a quiescent and 
regular state of feeling. 

This hint appears to open our way to a general 
remark of the highest importance—namely, that our 
best feelings, our holiest desires, our moral virtues, 
and even our Christian graces, will all be sure to 
decay, unless the weakening of the passive impression 
is counteracted by the strengthening of the active 
principle. A few examples will render the subject 
clear and familiar. 

The feeling of pity is naturally excited in the mind 
by the appearance of a fellow-creature in pain or 
distress. But when a multitude of such objects have 
been presented to our attention, one after another, the 
sensation is weakened, the pain which such a sight 
engenders becomes less poignant, and the pity, even of 
the merciful, grows comparatively cool. By what 
means then are we to make up for the deficiency ? By 
acts of beneficence—not merely gifts of money, but 
exertions of mind and body, for the relief of our 
afflicted fellow-creatures. If the active principle be 
thus insured, even the passive feeling of pity will 
never die; the habit of attention to the objects which 
excite it will be established, and benevolence will 
imbue our mental constitution. On the other hand, 
if our feelings of pity do not lead us into action, they 


50 


PASSIVE IMPRESSIONS 


will fade away with astonishing quickness, and we 
shall soon become as insensible as stones to the suffer¬ 
ings of others. 

Many persons are prone to substitute for the realities 
of life a fictitious picture, drawn either by themselves 
or others, and are satisfied with indulging their bene¬ 
volence only in imagination. While they take little or 
no notice of the cries of the poor, or of the sorrows of 
the prisoner, they will feast on the excitement of a 
tragedy, and weep over a novel. But there is no 
greater delusion than this ; for, of all cold hearts, the 
heart of the sentimentalist is often found to be the 
coldest. “ Going over the theory of virtue, in one’s 
thoughts,” says Bishop Butler, “talking well, and 
drawing fine pictures of it—this is so far from neces¬ 
sarily or certainly conducing to form a habit of it in 
him who thus employs himself, that it may harden the 
mind in a contrary course, and render it gradually 
more insensible, i. e. form a habit of insensibility to all 
moral considerations .” 1 

Submission to parental authority is a Christian 
virtue, too often disregarded, but of high practical 
importance. But except the child be accustomed to 
acts of obedience, the mental impressions which give 
rise to them will always be growing weaker. After a 
time, the parental command, so often repeated in vain, 
will scarcely descend into the ear, and will produce no 
effect upon the mind : and, before manhood arrives, 
there will be as little of the feeling left of subordina¬ 
tion or dependence as in the young of animals, when 
1 Analogy, chap. v. 


AND ACTIVE PRINCIPLES. 


51 


nature leads them to forsake their dams and to provide 
for themselves. 

Scenes of death are frequently passing before us in 
this world of change. The mourners go about the 
streets—again and again the grave is opened before us 
—again and again we are called to weep for the loss of 
a relative or a friend. Such scenes are calculated to 
excite an awful sense of the shortness of life, and of 
the vast importance of preparation for eternity. But 
except we apply our mental powers to the subject, and 
make a diligent use of these occasions of serious re¬ 
flection, such scenes will presently lose their effect 
upon us, and the more we see of death the less we 
shall care for its approach. 

The importance of filial reverence towards the 
Almighty, and the duty of worshipping him with the 
heart, is on all hands confessed. But woe unto those 
who neglect the religion of the closet, or of the con¬ 
gregation. The impression produced on them by the 
often recurring proofs of our heavenly Father’s love 
will grow weaker and weaker, and will soon be re¬ 
duced almost to nothing. It is the act of solemn 
waiting upon God, and of communion with him in 
prayer and praise, when we make “melody” in our 
“hearts unto the Lord”—it is the diligent performance 
of all our religious duties —by which, under divine 
grace, the flame of devotion is kept alive in our 
bosoms, and the habit of godliness established. 

Although, however, the gradual weakening of 
passive impressions exposes us to some temptations, 
and requires to be met by an opposite influence, it 


52 


PASSIVE IMPRESSIONS 


ought by no means to be regarded as a defect in the 
constitution of our nature. On the contrary, it is a 
law peculiarly adapted to our need, and affords a re¬ 
markable proof of the wisdom and benevolence of our 
Creator. 

That this is a provision of tender mercy, is well 
understood by the sick man, who has been long accus¬ 
tomed to be racked with pain, and who finds his 
sufferings tolerable, as they become habitual. It is 
understood, also, by the child of affliction, whose grief 
is no sooner familiar, than it begins to wane, and who 
bears his seventh trouble with a quietness and equani¬ 
mity to which, during his earliest sorrow, he was com¬ 
paratively a stranger. 

The terrors of the ocean are of perpetual recurrence, 
and continue from year to year unabated. But how 
rapidly does the impression of them subside in the 
mind of the sailor! How quickly he finds the sea his 
proper element! How calm he becomes, from fre¬ 
quent experiment, in the hour of danger! Were the 
sympathy which the surgeon feels with his patient, 
when he first performs an operation, to continue without 
diminution, it would be almost impossible for him to 
pursue his calling. A dangerous pity would soon pre¬ 
vent all the usefulness of his knowledge and his skill. 

Above all, this principle in our nature, when rightly 
applied, affords a most important aid to virtue. The 
decay of the passive impression gives an ever-increasing 
scope for the play of the active habit by which it is 
surmounted. Courage and self-possession, for instance, 
are confirmed by frequent experiment and practice; 


AND ACTIVE PRINCIPLES. 


53 


but who does not perceive that in forming these habits 
of mind, we are assisted by the gradual diminution 
of the passive feeling of terror? Patience and resigna¬ 
tion are doubtless established in the mind through a 
series of mental acts of submission and long-suffering; 
but, under the merciful government of our Creator, 
they are greatly promoted by the decay of our painful 
sensations. 

Afflictions operating on our unsubdued hearts, have 
a natural tendency to excite a murmuring spirit; but 
as the mind is steadily turned in submission towards 
its Creator, the pain of the chastisement gradually 
diminishes, the disposition to murmur gently subsides, 
and the grace of resignation is confirmed in the soul. 
A provocation received from a fellow-creature tempts 
us to impatience and anger; but if, under the influence 
of Christian love, our minds are kept unruffled, and we 
are enabled to return good for evil, the next circum¬ 
stance of the kind which occurs to us, is felt in a less 
degree, the third still less, the fourth scarcely at all. 
The passive impression becomes more and more evan¬ 
escent, and almost imperceptibly to ourselves, the 
character is formed in us of meekness and forbearance. 

It appears indeed to be the design of our heavenly 
Father, that through thi3 peculiar feature in the law 
of habit, his children who delight in virtue should be 
gradually delivered from the tyranny of their evil pas¬ 
sions. Temptation frequently repeated, and as fre¬ 
quently resisted, will, in due season, lose both its 
character and its name. As the active habit of virtue 
is formed and established, the passive feelings which 


54 


DISCIPLINE. 


seduce to vice, are more and more weakened. The 
vanquished party—with slow and unwilling steps, 
indeed, and with frequent attempts to rally—retreats 
into inaction, and conquering grace takes possession 
of the field. 


SECTION IV. 

On Discipline. 

In order to form a practical view of the nature of 
discipline, we may, in the first place, direct our atten¬ 
tion to the government of man over the lower animals 
—“ Thou madest him to have dominion over the works 
of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet; 
all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 
the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and what¬ 
soever passeth through the paths of the seas.” 1 

Divested as we are, in the fall, of that native author¬ 
ity over animals, which appears to have formed in 
Adam one feature of the “ image” of God, we still re¬ 
tain the remnants of our power. Not only do we 
enjoy a license to destroy them for our food, but we 
bring many of them under our yoke, and apply their 
powers to our advantage and convenience. For this 
purpose, we make use of discipline. 

Let any watch the process by which the untrained 
colt is fitted for the use and service of his owner. By 
the enticement of food, the guidance of the rein, the 
restraint of the bit, the stimulus of the whip, the 
animal, hitherto accustomed to the most irregular 
1 Psalm viii, 6—8. 



ON DISCIPLINE. 


55 


movements, is gradually brought into order. Some¬ 
times also he is yoked to a companion, whose mature 
and steady motions persuade him by example, or com¬ 
pel him by force, to go forward in the same direction, 
and to adopt the same paces. 

Now this is discipline; the means by which it acts 
are persuasion and compulsion, gentleness and severity, 
rewards and punishments, and above all, example; 
and the end at which it aims is a total change of cus¬ 
tom, the annihilation of bad and inconvenient habits, 
and the forming of good and useful ones. In the case 
before us, however, it is obvious that discipline does 
not end with the mere process of education; it is the 
very essence of the established government to which 
that process leads. By a continued use of the same 
means, the bad habits which have been subdued are 
kept in subjection, and the good habits which have 
been formed are maintained and improved. 

As we ascend higher to those various kinds of 
government, which men exercise over their own 
species, we find that the same principles apply; disci¬ 
pline is still the same, in its nature, its operation, and 
its effects. 

Let a man visit the children in a nursery—the fire¬ 
side circle of a growing family—the school of boys or 
girls—or the college of young men—and in all these 
instances he will find, or ought to find, a system of 
education and government, conducted by discipline. 
The babes, the growing family, the children at school, 
and the rising members of the college, are all under 
training. By persuasion and warning, by gentleness 


56 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


and severity, by rewards and punishments, by alluring 
to good and deterring from evil, by precept and in¬ 
struction, and above all, by the ever-acting force of 
example, they are severally taught to overcome their 
bad habits, and to form others which are suitable to 
their calling and condition. And in each of these 
cases, the government which is, in the first instance, 
established by these means, is afterwards conducted 
and maintained in a similar manner. 

When we extend our views to states and nations, 
we find that the same principles are applicable. What¬ 
soever may be the form of government which any 
people adopt, it ought ever to be the object of the 
legislative and ruling power, to improve the com¬ 
munity over which it is placed, in wealth, in civiliza¬ 
tion, and in moral order. This improvement is indeed 
the professed object of every government—an object 
not to be accomplished by any one set of men—but to 
he pursued through a series of ages and generations. 
And although it has been hitherto the lot of nations to 
rise to a certain pitch of prosperity, and afterwards to 
decline, there can be no doubt, that in any people 
which should adopt a policy truly conformed to the 
will of God, there would be a constant progress in 
prosperity and happiness, and no decay. Even in that 
imperfect state of things, however, which now exists, 
every nation may be considered under training , as well 
as under government; and, in a large sense of the term, 
discipline is the means by which both these objects are 
accomplished. The whole system of criminal juris¬ 
prudence, a large proportion of civil laws, together 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


57 


with national institutions of a literary or moral nature, 
constitute a scheme of discipline. The means used are 
restraint and encouragement, instruction and example, 
punishments and rewards. The end proposed is the 
subjection of those habits in the community, which 
interrupt the national welfare, and the formation of 
others which profit and adorn society. 

Such is the nature and such the operation of disci¬ 
pline, in the various kinds of government which are 
conducted by men. We may now proceed to take a 
brief view of the same principles, as they are unfolded 
in the government of God over mankind. 

In His natural government over us (independently 
of all moral considerations) we are placed under a 
system of training, and every period of life is intended 
as a preparation for that which succeeds it. More 
especially it is the ordinance of our Creator, that during 
the progress of youth, we should be gradually furnished 
with those qualifications of body and mind, which fit 
us for manhood and advancing life. 

Every description of voluntary action, bodily or 
mental, is brought to its maturity by experience and 
custom; and precisely by the same means do individuals 
qualify themselves for their peculiar station or calling 
in society. We have already observed that the func¬ 
tions of the mind, the arts of life, the tempers and 
dispositions, all of which are of essential importance to 
our condition in the world—are alike subject to this 
general rule. 

Let us for a moment picture to ourselves a person 
who should start up in an instant from infancy to ma- 


58 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


turity, and be a man in the world without any habits 
at all. What a speechless, senseless, ungovernable 
creature he would be ! The mere impulsive power of 
body and mind would, on the supposition, be full 
grown; but how awkward would be his motions, how 
deluded his sight, how absurd his reasonings, how 
unrestrained his conduct! How utterly unfit would 
he be both for the general purposes of life, and for the 
functions of any peculiar calling ! 

True indeed it is, that our Creator might have at 
once bestowed upon us, as he did on our first parents, 
all our faculties in such a state of mature action, as 
would have fitted them to every external circumstance, 
and precluded the necessity of growth and education. 
But he has seen fit to ordain otherwise. It is one of 
the most obvious laws of his government over us, that 
the qualities both of mind and body, which fit us for 
the world, should for the most part be precisely such as 
are the result of long continued trial and experience. 

More especially since we are placed in a state of 
trial, as it regards even our temporal welfare, it is ab¬ 
solutely necessary for us to form the habit of prudence 
and self-restraint—to learn to resist the temptations by 
which we are surrounded, to act unwisely —to accus¬ 
tom ourselves to abstain from present gratification, in 
order to insure our future well-being. 

Now, for these purposes, our Heavenly Father places 
us under discipline. By furnishing us with incitements 
to cultivate all our powers; by the force of instruction 
and example; by crosses and disappointments on the 
one hand, and encouragement and success on the other; 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


59 


by punishing us for our imprudence and rewarding us 
for our self-denial—he affords us an ample scope for 
subduing every useless or dangerous habit, and for 
establishing such as will qualify us for our temporal 
sphere. If we give ourselves up to this discipline and 
thus co-operate with the benevolent designs of our 
Creator, we mostly obtain as great a degree of worldly 
comfort as properly belongs to our changeable lot. If, 
on the contrary, we rebel against these divine provi¬ 
sions, and become a prey to injurious habits, we are 
sure to reap an abundant harvest of disquietude and 
misery. 

That these things are true, as it relates to matters 
of a purely temporal nature, every one must acknow¬ 
ledge ; but, secondly, under the moral government of 
God, the same principles apply with double force. In 
the great work of subduing those vicious propensities 
which are opposed to his will, and of attaining to 
those virtues which he approves and rewards, the 
faculty of habit is abundantly brought into play ; and 
this faculty, under divine grace, is redeemed from 
its corruptions, and directed in the right way, by 
means of moral discipline. If we give way to tempta¬ 
tion, and fall into any sinful habit, we increase the 
disorder of our moral constitution, and our state of 
trial becomes more and more unfavourable. If, on 
the contrary, we resist temptation, and form, through 
obedience to the Holy Spirit, the habit of virtuous 
restraint, our moral constitution is improved, and the 
dangers to which we are here exposed are gradually 
lessened. 


60 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


That some such process is necessary, independently 
of the consideration of our fallen state, is evident, as 
Bishop Butler remarks, from the very nature of parti¬ 
cular propensities. Since these propensities have cer¬ 
tain external objects, since it is a law of our constitu¬ 
tion that these objects should excite them, and since the 
excitement is produced whether it can be lawfully 
acted on or not, it appears to follow that the very pre¬ 
sence of the object must have a tendency—be it ever 
so slight, yet some tendency—to tempt to a breach of 
the divine law. And no sooner is that law broken, 
than the harmony of the soul is destroyed, and the 
sinner is separated from his Maker. How needful, then, 
for mankind, even had they continued in their pristine 
condition, would have been the restraining grace of God, 
and the habit of self-denial! 

But our first parents sinned, and lost the image of 
their creator; their corrupt condition has descended 
to their posterity, and moral death has overtaken our 
species. We are under the dominion of Satan, and 
through his temptations working on our corrupt hearts, 
we are ever prone to evil habits. What probability is 
there, therefore, of our being fitted for any wise or 
worthy purpose, even as it regards the present life, 
without the intervention of powerful moral discipline ? 

For this discipline the successive stages of life afford 
us ample opportunities; and though multitudes refuse 
to avail themselves of it, yet those who take the Holy 
Spirit for their guide, and are therefore on the side of 
the divine administration, will be sure to find it effec¬ 
tual. The vicissitudes of pleasure and pain, of joy and 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


61 


sorrow, to which they are subject, the encouragements 
and reproofs which they meet with on their way, the 
very temptations which they are enabled to overcome, 
are all calculated to fit them for their proper sphere 
of moral and religious duty. 

On such an application of the moral discipline of 
God essentially depend our happiness and true pros¬ 
perity even in this world. But how infinitely important 
does the subject become, when we extend our views 
to the boundless future ! Religion teaches us that, in 
the world to come, we shall be rewarded or punished 
according to our conduct here; and also, that the pre¬ 
sent life is the sole opportunity allotted to us of prepa¬ 
ration for eternal bliss. Now, and now only, is the 
time in which we can be converted to God, divested of 
every evil tendency, confirmed in purity, submission, 
and charity, and prepared for breathing the element of 
heaven. 

We are, indeed, assured that many of those graces 
which we are taught to seek in this world, will no 
longer be needed there. Our hope will be lost in frui¬ 
tion, our faith in vision, our patience and long-suffer¬ 
ing in the fulness of enjoyment. Nevertheless we have 
every reason to believe that the state of mind which can 
alone fit us for these celestial pleasures, is precisely 
such as is formed by the exercise, here below, of all 
these Christian virtues. Under divine mercy and 
grace, it is, for the most part, the practical result of 
action, experience, habit, and moral discipline. 



62 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


Before I leave the subject of discipline, I am inclined 
to particularize a few examples. 

Visit the nursery, in which a company of little ones 
are left to the unrestrained impulse of their wild nature 
—nothing meets the eye but a scene of disorder; nothing 
falls upon the ear but dissonant cries of impatience and 
distress on the one hand, and of boisterous pleasure on 
the other. The voice of the nurse first commanding, 
next imploring , better behaviour, dies on the air with¬ 
out producing the smallest effect, and if the mother 
of the family happens to enter, the utmost stretch of 
her authority produces only a moment’s pause. She 
is a woman of the world, who thinks little of her 
domestic duties, and is destitute of all notions of dis¬ 
cipline, both in the restraint of herself, and in the 
government of her children. The consequence is “ con¬ 
fusion worse confused,” not merely at the present time, 
but during all the subsequent stages of an unhappy 
family history. 

Enter another nursery, still more populous, it may 
be, where the Christian mother, who has herself sub¬ 
mitted to the regulation of divine grace, and knows 
the secret of the authority of love, is accustomed to 
exercise her genial and resistless sway. All is con¬ 
tentment, ease, and quiet happiness among the children 
who are capable of speaking and thinking, while even 
the infant seems charmed into silence. The school¬ 
room in which the same mother or some able repre¬ 
sentative conducts the great affair of early education, 
presents a spectacle of ready obedience, happy indus¬ 
try, and at least equal enjoyment under a new phase. 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


63 


By what means are these effects produced ? By 
Christian discipline; not without a small measure of 
severity when required, and the steady maintenance of 
the rights of government, but characterized throughout 
by all the tenderness of love and kindness—instruction 
and example, the meanwhile, going on together hand 
in hand. What again is the general result ? A 
peaceful stability in the tie between parent and child, 
during the whole course of their joint lives; an orderly 
development both of faculty and duty in the growing 
members of the family; harmony throughout the fire-side 
circle; and above all, hearts well prepared by parental 
care and cultivation, for the reception of the grace of God. 

It would be difficult to find a more agreeable mani¬ 
festation of the good effects of discipline, than in a well 
managed school on the Lancasterian system. There 
are some five hundred boys in it, as we may suppose; 
yet when these numerous pupils are seated at their 
desks, on a floor rising as it recedes, they all face their 
master, whose eye is continually upon them ; they all 
hear his voice, and feel its magic power, when he de¬ 
mands their responses, or hushes them into silence. 
Monitors are ever at hand to check every rising irre¬ 
gularity, and to entice them onward in a course of 
obedience and industry, by the force of example ; and 
when they form their circles for reading or arithmetic, 
these young professors become the centres of action, 
and in teaching others, are abundantly taught them¬ 
selves. Corporal inflictions are banished from the 
school, and punishment of any kind, after the first 
stage of discipline, is seldom resorted to. Sufficient is 


64 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


the stimulus of the daily mark, and the half-yearly or 
quarterly reward. But the true efficacy of the plan 
both for the present order and comfort, and for the 
future well-being of this energetic multitude, depends 
on the daily infusion of sound moral and religious 
principles, and the sure though gradual formation of 
good habits. 

Painful must it be to the Christian to observe the 
movements and evolutions of a regiment of soldiers— 
yet not without useful lessons as it regards the power 
of discipline. How harmonious their steps! how 
seemly their gait! how unbroken their lines ! how 
skilful their handling of the musket or sword ; how 
swift their obedience to the “ winged word” of com¬ 
mand ! Strange, indeed, is it to compare this living, 
sentient clockwork, with the clumsy appearance and 
irregular gestures of raw recruits. Here indeed we 
see the full effect of imperative sway, perpetual train¬ 
ing and teaching, rewards and punishments, and above 
all, of the ever-present influence of pattern, or example. 
And what is the awful consequence ? Reasoning, re¬ 
sponsible beings, men destined for immortality, are 
converted into mere machines, ready to be applied at 
a moment’s notice, to the butchery and destruction of 
their fellows. 

In prisons, we have to deal with the most corrupt 
and degraded of our species. Who does not perceive 
that a commonwealth inflicts a deep wound on its vital 
interests, when it consigns the criminal part of the 
community, within some vast inclosure, to total idleness 
and uncontrolled mutual association? Who does not 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


65 


know that the young and inexperienced offender, is 
sure to emerge from such a place of confinement, armed 
with tenfold terrors for the society to which he belongs? 
These are evils which all good men must deplore, but 
which it is not always very easy to remedy. Yet a 
remedy may be found in well-ordered discipline. Let 
our prisons be so constructed as to afford the oppor¬ 
tunity of judicious classification and perfect inspection; 
let every class of our prisoners be under constant 
superintendence—the men under the care of men, the 
women under that of officers of their own sex solely; 
let them be carefully watched by night as well as by 
day; let them never be idle; and let their employment, 
if possible, be such as to invite to industry, rather than 
to render it odious and painful. Above all, let them 
be carefully instructed in the knowledge of true religion, 
and led by the hand of Christian kindness to the Saviour. 
He can bring them under that divine discipline of the 
cross, which is the only sure preparation for virtue 
here, and eternal happiness hereafter. 1 

1 I have had many opportunities of observing the working of the 
two systems of prison discipline, which are now chiefly in vogue. 
I have watched the silent industry of crowded companies in some 
prisons, and, in others, have repeatedly visited the solitary cells in 
which criminals were at work at their respective mechanical arts 
and in which they received the visits of their religious instructors. 
I could have rejoiced in the order of some of the former prisons, 
had I not marked the depression which dwelt on the countenances 
of their inmates, and discovered that the grand secret of this order 
is the ever-present whip. Nor could I conceal from myself that 
notwithstanding the prevailing silence, connections might easily be 
formed among the criminals, which could not fail, on their quitting 
the prison, to endanger society, and enlarge the sphere of crime. 


66 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


He it is undoubtedly from whom emanates all right¬ 
ful authority for the government of the church , and for 
the discipline adopted by any particular society of 
Christians. In dependence on Christ, our Holy and 
Omnipresent Head, Christians, when they form them¬ 
selves into bodies, ought certainly to pay great regard 
to this part of their privileges and their duty. They 
ought to be subject one to another in love, and to form 
such regulations as shall ensure the right education 
and training of their youth, a needful care for the 
support and comfort of their poor members, and an 
effectual moral and religious oversight of the body at 
large. They must not forget the salutary advice of an 
apostle, “ Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye 
which are spiiitual, restore such an one in the spirit of 
meekness; considering thyself lest thou also be tempted. 
Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of 
Christ.” 1 But while the most experienced and spiritual 

On tlie whole, I prefer the separate to the silent system; yet 
solitary confinement is capable of awful abuse. Be it ever remem¬ 
bered that it is intolerable to human nature, and utterly unjustifi¬ 
able for any lengthened period, except when it is accompanied by 
ample alleviations. These are—constant employment, good nourish¬ 
ment, plenty of air and exercise, clear views through the window 
of each cell of the sunny or starry heavens, and above all, Christian 
teaching and superintendence, and the frequent visits of the bene¬ 
volent and good. When we speak of the “separate system,” we 
mean the system which isolates criminals in confinement, from their 
fellow prisoners. This meaning ought always to be accompanied 
by the understanding, that these wretched beings, are never to be 
consigned to hopeless solitude, but are to be nurtured, instructed, 
helped, and cherished, by those who will set them a good example, 
and lead them, by the gentle hand of kindness, into the paths of 
sobriety, honesty, and peace. 1 Gal. vi, 1, 2. 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


67 


members of the church are rightly employed in reclaim¬ 
ing the wanderers, and in exercising a just control oyer 
the flock, it is the whole society in any particular place, 
district, or country, in which, under Christ, the power 
of regulating the conduct of its members properly 
resides. Such is the pattern of church government, 
and of the discipline to which it leads, presented to us 
in the New Testament. In the meantime “ the Spirit 
divideth to every man severally as he willeth,” and as 
the members of the church are individually careful to 
submit to his divine influence and authority, the blessed 
result will be order, harmony, and peace—all will 
“ grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, 
even Christ, from whom the whole body, fitly framed 
together, and compacted by that which every joint sup- 
plieth, according to the effectual working in the measure 
of every part, maketh increase of the body, to the 
edifying of itself in love .” 1 

Such are the true principles, and such, through the 
operation of divine grace, is the happy effect of a well- 
ordered union and discipline , in particular Christian 
societies. But we are never to forget that the church 
of Christ upon earth consists of all those of every name 
and nation, (to whatsoever form of administration and 
church-government they may be accustomed,) who are 
truly converted to God, and “ baptized by one Spirif 
into one body.” These living ones are scattered over 
the world under a vast variety of circumstances, and 
although all united by a hidden tie, are often, in an 
outward point of view, total strangers one to another. 

1 Eph. iv, 15, 16. 

F 2 


68 


ON DISCIPLINE. 


Yet wheresoever the children of the Lord are to be 
found, and whatsoever the peculiar complexion of their 
worship or their creed, they are all, in a high and 
searching sense of the term, under discipline. They 
know that they are not their own masters, but subject 
to the yoke of Him who has redeemed them from the 
slavery of sin and Satan, and has himself an absolute 
right to rule over them as he pleases. They willingly 
submit themselves to his government; they are moulded 
by his plastic hand into the shape and character which 
he approves; they delight in imitating his example; 
they shrink from all that can involve them in his wrath; 
they pant for the glorious reward which he alone can 
bestow upon them; they take up their cross daily in 
the midst of allurement and temptation, that they may 
follow him faithfully, in renouncing the world, the 
flesh, and the evil one. Thus by a discipline , ordered 
and applied in perfect wisdom and love, they are pre¬ 
pared, in the end, to arise above all temporal things, 
and to rejoice for ever in the presence of their God and 
Saviour. 


ON BAD HABIT. 


Had mankind continued upright, and had that faculty 
of habit, which the Creator has bestowed upon our 
species, always been applied to its proper ends, the 
extent of its benefits would have been vast indeed. 
Certainly it is only reasonable to believe that through 
a long course of self-denial and piety, our outward 
temperance and inward purity would have become 
stable as a rock; our love to God and man, a bright 
and perpetual flame; our perception of his law written 
on the heart, quick and vivid as lightning, and our 
obedience to its dictates, swift and uniform like the 
progress of time. Nor can we doubt that under the 
control of the law of God, our intellectual powers 
might gradually have attained to a very high degree 
of clearness, comprehensiveness, and strength. 

These are no idle dreams, but fair deductions from 
what we know of the nature and operation of the 
faculty of habit; but alas, “ the crown is fallen from 
our heads; woe unto us that we have sinned .” 1 A 
faculty which might have been the means of raising 
us to the highest pitch of human virtue, and of greatly 
enlarging our capacities as rational beings, is perverted 
1 Lam. v, 16. 


70 


BAD HABIT. 


to contrary ends, and now operates with prodigious 
strength in a wrong direction—confirming our fallen 
race in the unlawful indulgence of self, and in rebellion 
against our Heavenly Father. 

The Scriptures fully justify this assertion, when they 
speak of the wicked ways of mankind ; for the “ way'* 
of a man is his habit. Thus we read, that shortly be¬ 
fore the flood, “ God looked upon the earth, and, be¬ 
hold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his 
way upon the earth .” 1 Again, the Psalmist says— 
and the Apostle repeats his saying—“ There is none 
righteous, no not one, there is none that understandeth, 
there is none that seeketh after God; they are all 
gone out of the way, they are together become unpro¬ 
fitable ; there is none that doeth good, no not one— 
destruction and misery are in their ways , and the way 
of peace they have not known .” 2 

In point of fact, Scripture and experience unite in 
affording a melancholy evidence that mankind, in their 
fallen nature, are under the dominion of Satan, “ the 
god of this world.” Now, if any one should inquire 
what is the main instrument by which he confirms his 
authority over us—first, gently chaining his slaves, 
and afterwards, by imperceptible degrees, increasing 
the weight and number of their fetters—the answer is 
plain. The instrument which he delights to use for 
this purpose, is evil habit. 

In order to make the subject clear, we cannot do 
better than select an example. Let us examine the 

1 Gen. vi, 12. 

* Rom. iii, 10—12, 16, 17. Comp. Psalm xiv, 1— 3, &c. 


BAD HABIT. 


71 


history of some notorious criminal who is about to suf¬ 
fer the last penalty of the law. What was the begin¬ 
ning, and what the progress of his “ way ?’’ Very 
probably in early life he was induced, under a loose 
education, to neglect the sabbath, and to exchange the 
duties of public worship for amusement and dissipation. 
Under such circumstances he naturally addicted him¬ 
self to games of chance, and to this stimulus as na¬ 
turally added another, that of ardent spirits. While 
the habits of idleness, gambling, and drinking to ex¬ 
cess, were winding themselves around him, his power 
of self-control was gradually weakened, and his impa¬ 
tience of the control of others grew stronger by indul¬ 
gence. Gross ideas with which he had become 
familiar were for ever at hand, like demons waiting on 
his steps, to conduct him into sin; and the force of 
this mental association was multiplied tenfold by the 
example and influence of wicked company. His pas¬ 
sions now became ungovernable, and must be satisfied 
at any cost. The line of integrity was presently 
broken through; falsehood flowed from his lips as a 
matter of course, and no longer did he hesitate to seize 
the property of his neighbour. He sought the mid¬ 
night hour as a cover for his crimes, and deeds of 
darkness became first his habit, next his delight. 
Blasphemy and rebellion against his Maker, confirmed 
by custom, were soon accompanied by a reckless 
cruelty towards his fellow-men. Habituated by de¬ 
grees to rapine and violence, and bound in Satan’s 
adamantine chain, he at length completed his race of 
wickedness, by a deliberate act of murder. 


72 


BAD HABIT. 


Every one who examines the moral philosophy of 
such a case, must perceive that it was through the 
faculty of habit , that sin, small in its beginning, and 
most insinuating in its progress, obtained its perfect 
mastery over the mind of the transgressor. The pas¬ 
sive impression of virtue gradually declined; the 
active principle of vice was settled in the constitution. 
The several bad habits which the individual had 
formed, all attained to their maturity by an impercep¬ 
tible growth; and although, perhaps, distinct in their 
nature, they wrought with a combined force in pro¬ 
moting and completing his ruin. 

The life of the criminal, beginning with some small 
transgression of the laws of God or man, and ending 
on the scaffold, is one of those glaring instances of 
the injurious effects of bad habit, which all persons 
agree in contemplating with horror. But do we not 
find frequent cases, equally fatal in a spiritual point of 
view, among persons of cultivation and refinement, 
who are treading the smooth green sward of life, and 
whose very circumstances defend them from the dan¬ 
ger of gross criminality? Is it not by the insinuating 
influence and gradually increasing force of bad habit, 
that multitudes of such persons fall by degrees into 
an almost total apathy respecting God, and heaven, 
and holiness—into an unvarying system of selfishness 
—into the ever eager pursuit of worldly amusement— 
into the sauntering away of thousands of precious 
hours—into the lap of a soft and dangerous luxury ? 
And what is the end of these things ? Is it not the 
utter ruin of the immortal soul ? 


BAD HABIT. 


73 


From examples in which a number of bad habits 
are connected together, and operate with nearly equal 
strength, we may turn to others, in which particular 
sins are so predominant as to imbue and mark the 
whole character. How deadly is the condition, how 
terrible the prospects of the confirmed drunkard, and 
of the inveterate gamester ! In each of them, the 
corruption of the human heart, common to us all, 
assumed a peculiar bias, each had his easily besetting 
sin, his w r eak spot to which Satan might best address 
his temptations. Both began their course of sin in a 
very inconspicuous manner—the water weakly min¬ 
gled with spirits—the occasional game of chance for a 
small sum. In each case, however, the growth of the 
habit, although at first gentle and almost impercep¬ 
tible, was sure and steady, and was quickened as it 
proceeded. The liquor grew stronger and stronger, 
the draughts from time to time were enlarged and 
multiplied, the game became habitual instead of occa¬ 
sional, the athount staked was continually on the 
increase. As the passive impression produced in each 
case by its appropriate stimulus faded away, the 
quantity or power of the stimulus itself was, from a 
sort of sad necessity, augmented; and with every step 
in the process, the proneness to the sin became more 
resistless, more constitutional. Now, at length, the 
gamester is prepared to stake his whole remaining 
fortune on the throw of a die, rather than be deprived 
of an excitement which has enslaved his very nature : 
and should the drunkard see before him a glass of 
ardent spirits, and be assured that the salvation of his 


74 


BAD HABIT. 


soul depended on his abstaining from the draught, the 
liquor, nevertheless, would, in all probability, be swal¬ 
lowed in a moment . 1 Such are the small beginnings, 
the insinuating progress, and the final and perfect 
triumph of evil habit! Instruction, entreaty, amend¬ 
ment for an hour, a day, a week, are all in vain. 
“ The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the 
sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire .” 2 

Can anything be more calculated to deprive the 
soul of all its better powers and loftier hopes, and 
finally to sink it in the pit of perdition, than habits of 
sensuality and cruelty ? These are sometimes dis¬ 
played, distinctly from each other, in different charac¬ 
ters, but they are often united in the same person. 
Evidences of this truth are afforded by the history of 
a Tiberias, a Nero, and a Heliogabalus; and on a still 
larger scale, in modern times, by the blood-stained 
records of the slave-trade and slavery. The slave- 
driver, long accustomed to the use of men as cattle, 
to the arbitrary infliction of terrible punishment, to 
the public exposure and torture of females, and to the 
unbridled indulgence of his own lusts, is surely one of 
the most degraded of his species. 

For a time, probably, his heart was affected by the 
sorrows of the oppressed, and he blushed at the notion 
of unrestrained licentiousness; but the passive impres¬ 
sions of pity and shame subsided by degrees; the 
active principles of cruelty and lust took possession of 

1 Such was the melancholy confession made to a gentleman of 
my acquaintance by an inveterate gin-drinker. 

2 2 Pet. ii, 22. 


BAD HABIT. 


75 


his nature; the wreck of decency became his pleasure 
—the cries of the wounded, music in his ears! Such 
a man is surely an object of the deepest compassion; 
he is the captive of Satan, the slave of bad habit; 
nothing can rescue him from destruction but the hand 
of Omnipotent mercy! 

A slave-owner in one of the Bahamas was once 
convicted, together with his wife, of fatally punishing 
a female slave for some trifling offence, and of rubbing 
red pepper into the eyes of their dying victim, in 
order to aggravate her torments. They were tried 
and found guilty of the offence, and sentenced to a 
short imprisonment! But who were the objects of 
sorrow and compassion in the island on this horrible 
occasion ? Not the murdered slave—but the impri¬ 
soned murderers. On them alone was condolence 
lavished by their equals in society; and when the time 
of their confinement had elapsed, they were politely 
greeted and publicly entertained. Now, every one 
knows that such scenes would have been impossible in 
England. Humanity could not have been thus out¬ 
raged, public sympathy could not have been thus dis¬ 
torted, except under the influence of a wicked system, 
confirmed and established by habit. The whole cir¬ 
cumstance affords a teaching lesson respecting the 
influence of a faculty, which, when perverted, is 
capable of blinding the understanding to every moral 
truth, and of hardening the heart against every im¬ 
pression of mercy. 

When it was declared in prophecy to Hazael the 
Syrian Prince, that he would “ slay the young men of 


76 


BAD HABIT. 


Israel, dash the children,” and perpetrate still more 
shocking enormities, he answered Elisha and said— 
“ but what! is thy servant a dog, that he should do this 
great thing ?” 1 That he should ever be guilty of such 
crimes, might then seem to him beyond the range of 
possibility; but under the influence of ambition, habit 
wound her chain around him; the man degenerated 
to the beast, and after a certain lapse of time the pre¬ 
diction was accomplished. Who has not heard of the 
Roman Emperor who began his career of cruelty by 
tormenting flies in his infancy, and who, as he ad¬ 
vanced in life, became by slow degrees one of the 
greatest monsters the world ever saw? 

Among the bad and sinful habits which lay waste 
the happiness of mankind, war stands pre-eminent. 
This is a habit which infects communities as well as 
individuals, it is to be traced to the evil passions which 
are common to our species, and it is nurtured by false 
and dangerous principles in general education. But 
for the guilt of this prevailing custom, no persons are 
so deeply responsible as the statesman in the closet and 
the monarch in the field. Who can read the history 
of Napoleon without perceiving that in the midst of all 
his glory he was the mere slave of his own passions, 
and of a destructive and terrible custom? Nursed 
and tutored in arms—an embryo general and conqueror 
at school—introduced, in early life, to an arena of 
fierce contention—entrusted with armies before years 
and experience had made him sober, and intoxicated 
with early and splendid success, most naturally did he 
1 2 Kings, viii, 12, 13. 


BAD HABIT. 


77 


go on from adventure to adventure, and from conquest 
to conquest. The passive feeling of the terrors of war¬ 
fare, and of regard for the sufferings of others, faded 
and vanished. The active propensities of ambition 
and aggression were wrought into his constitution; 
and what was the practical result ? The wasting of 
nations, and the sacrifice of millions of human lives! 
How strange a proof is it of the power of evil habit, 
that murder on this enormous scale should become 
familiar to the minds of men, that it should be justified 
on the plea of honour, that it should even be accounted 
as the height of human glory ! 

Bad habits of action are, for the most part, insepa¬ 
rably connected with a disordered or vicious state of 
mind; the disposition prompts the action, and the ac¬ 
tion confirms the disposition, which, becoming at length 
habitual and constitutional, is like an ever-flowing foun¬ 
tain within us—a fountain of bitter waters. 

Some persons are prone to view almost every sub¬ 
ject through a ridiculous medium ; it is their pleasure 
and their genius to discover odd associations, and there 
is nothing so familiar on the one hand, or so grave on 
the other, as not to excite their faculty of jesting. It 
is surprising in how great a degree this faculty is 
strengthened by indulgence, and how quickly it becomes 
the leading feature of a man’s manners and character. 
When this is the case, it is easy to perceive the truth 
of the Apostle’s declaration, that jesting is not " con¬ 
venient ;” by which term he may be understood to 
mean, that it is unsuitable to the purposes of life, and 
inconsistent with the dignity of the Christian character. 


78 


BAD HABIT. 


The inveterate jester is sure to lose his weight in 
society ; the wares in which he deals are contemptible; 
and when he sets his wanton foot on sacred ground, 
and learns to deride the doctrines of religion, or to 
joke in the words of Scripture, his habit becomes a 
perilous one indeed. Who shall say that such a man is 
not in danger of laughing away his soul into endless 
woe? 

A notorious infidel of modern times, was in his 
earlier days reputed to be a religious man, and was 
even engaged in the ministry of the gospel. Two fea¬ 
tures in his character (as I learn from a person who 
knew him w r ell) combined to lead him astray, and were 
finally the means of changing him into a blasphemer 
against God. The first was self-conceit; the second 
w r as a resistless habit of turning every thing into 
ridicule. 

Antiquity had her weeping as well as her laughing 
philosopher, and there are murmurers in the world as 
w r ell as jesters. Some persons are prone to a sour 
temper, and habituated to gloomy views. It is not that 
they have that lively impression of their own unwor¬ 
thiness and of the sinfulness of the world, which leads 
them to embrace and promote the gospel. It is that 
they lament over their lot, perceive only the dark side 
of the question, and take a distorted view both of 
themselves and others. Such a state of mind is fixed 
and matured through a long course of querulous emo¬ 
tions, and these are perpetually strengthened by ebul¬ 
litions of temper and complaining w r ords. The habit 
of the murmurer is indeed an evil one; it is utterly 


BAD HABIT. 


79 


opposed to the gracious designs of our heavenly Father, 
who plans our happiness and demands our gratitude 
and praise. Such a man is exposed to the deepest 
danger; he may easily go on from bad to worse, until 
complaint shall become blasphemy—and his awful end 
may be to “ curse God and die .” 

Still more common is a splenetic humour towards 
our friends and acquaintances, often productive of say¬ 
ings not the less cruel because they are witty, and dis¬ 
playing itself, when all wit is wanting, in low-born 
detraction. This is a humour, which, with the sinister 
practices resulting from it, is ever found to own the 
sway of habit; and when it is once fixed in the mental 
constitution, the misanthrope becomes at once misera¬ 
ble himself, and a fruitful source of misery to all around 
him. 

Who cannot trace the influence of custom, in the 
anxious thoughts, and studious penury of the miser, 
who growing rich by slow degrees, starves himself and 
his dependants, in the same progressive ratio, from an 
ever-increasing terror of poverty ? 

But independently of that covetousness, which is 
idolatry, what meed of future happiness and glory can 
be justly anticipated for the mere man of business, 
whose time and mind, through the force of habit, be¬ 
come entirely absorbed in buying and selling, in book¬ 
keeping, and casting up figures, in the constant round 
of mercantile transaction ; who, it may be, constrains 
the very sabbath into the service of his temporalities ; 
and who, though tolerably respectable in the eyes of 
men, and for the most part wronging no man, is 


80 


BAD HABIT. 


habituated to a certain jog-trot course in the broad way 
of the world, which is wholly apart from the more 
elevated duties and higher destinies of mankind ? 

“What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be 
done unto thee, thou false tongue ? Sharp arrows of 
the mighty, with coals of juniperPsalm cxx, 4. 
There is nothing more natural to man than this false 
tongue; it is inherent in his fallen nature, and is set in 
action by him who was a liar from the beginning, and 
“the father of it:” John viii, 44. Yet its flippant 
facility—first in paring down, or exaggerating truth, 
and at length in sacrificing and demolishing it, without 
reserve, and on all sorts of occasions—displays in a re¬ 
markable manner the insinuating influence, and in the 
end, the irrecoverable tyranny of bad habit. 

Among the evil customs of mind which infect man¬ 
kind, may be reckoned those of believing too much , and 
of believing too little. Both of them are fraught with 
danger ; the one leads to superstition, the other to 
atheism. 

In the history of idolatry, we find an example, on a 
most extensive scale, of the habit of credulity. Nothing 
at first sight can be more surprising than the fact that 
a vast proportion of mankind, both in ancient and 
modern times, have steadily maintained the practice of 
adoring images of wood and stone, and have appeared 
to be destitute of any spring of reason or good sense in 
themselves, by which they could escape from the 
bondage of so gross a delusion. Well might the 
prophet say of the idolater, “a deceived heart hath 
turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor 


BAD HABIT. 


81 


say, is there not a lie in my right hand?” 1 The main 
cause of these delusions is doubtless to be found in that 
corruption of the heart, which leads men to change 
“ the truth of God into a lie,” and to worship and 
serve the “ creature more than the Creator.” 2 But 
the peculiar faculty of the mind, which Satan perverts 
in order to this end, is that of habit. The idolater 
believes that graven images are proper objects of wor¬ 
ship, not because there is any show of reason in such 
a notion, for it is contrary to all reason ; but because 
he has been nurtured in it from his youth, and has been 
so long accustomed to act on the lie, as if if ivere true , 
that the belief of it, in spite of reason and evidence, is 
become almost insuperable. It is wrought up in his 
constitution, and forms a part of his very nature. 

May not an example of the same class be found 
among professing Christians, in the settled conviction 
entertained by multitudes, and even by a long series ot 
generations, that the “ elements ” in the eucharist, when 
consecrated by a priest, truly become the flesh and blood 
of Jesus Christ ? That when our Lord distributed 
the bread and wine to his twelve disciples, his body 
was in different places, and in different states (whole 
and broken) at the same time, and that now, while 
glorified in heaven, it is eaten on earth, and eaten in 
thousands of places at once, appear to me to be pro¬ 
positions which no rational being can be required to 
believe. Such imaginary facts are not to be mistaken 
for miracles. The latter have always been proved by 
the testimony of the senses ; they are opposed only to 

1 Isaiah xliv, 20. 2 Horn, i, 25. 

G 


82 


BAD HABIT. 


the order of nature , and are at all times possible to 
nature’s Author. The former are at variance with the 
eternal nature of things ; and no evidence whatsoever, 
which can be adduced in their favour, can equal the 
evidence which they contain within themselves, of 
their own falsehood. They are not like the great 
doctrines of Christianity, simply beyond reason ; they 
are contrary to it, and disprove themselves. That the 
sun should stand still in its course (or rather the earth 
be stayed in its rotation) was a miracle. That either 
the sun or the earth, or any other material substance, 
should exist in two places at the same moment, is an 
impossibility. And yet, in spite of this obvious dis¬ 
tinction, the doctrine of transubstantiation has become 
so familiar to thousands of sincere persons, and in some 
cases to men of superior parts, that they believe in its 
truth, as fully and implicitly, as in that of their own 
existence. What can account for this strange fact, but 
the all-pervading influence of habit ? 

Nor is the habit of believing too much—-of believing 
against reason and beyond the limits of truth—one of 
a harmless and indifferent nature. Superstition is as 
powerful an enemy to virtue and happiness, as has ever 
been let loose upon mankind by “ the Prince of the 
power of the air.” Who does not know that the annals 
of heathenism are disfigured by all that is licentious, 
and stained by all that is bloody ? Among those who 
profess Christianity, superstition is, for the most part, 
inseparably connected with bigotry and intolerance ; 
and who can deny that additions made to the divine 
fabric on merely human authority, are sure to mar its 
beauty, and diminish its strength ? 


BAD HABIT 


83 


Christianity is in perfect harmony with reason . Its 
truth is proved, to the satisfaction of every fair 
inquirer, by miracles performed and attested, by 
prophecies fulfilled, and above all, by the experience 
of true believers in the Son of God. Some of those 
essential doctrines on which its whole system is 
founded, are indeed far above the reach of the natural 
understanding of man ; they relate to those secrets of 
an infinite being, which would have been for ever un¬ 
known, had they not been revealed ; and now that they 
are revealed, they can be rightly understood and 
estimated only by the humble mind, and under the in¬ 
fluence of the Holy Spirit. Yet there is not one of 
these doctrines which is contrary to reason, or which 
has even the slightest tendency to disprove itself—not 
one, which, when accepted with simplicity, does not 
bear upon the mind with that native force which 
belongs only to truth . 

How is it then that so many persons fail to appre¬ 
ciate the evidence on which Christianity is founded, 
and that others, while they confess its divine origin, 
reject its most important and fundamental parts ? These 
evils must certainly be traced to the pride of the heart 
of man, to his natural love of darkness, and to that self- 
righteousness which lulls us to sleep as if we needed 
not a Saviour. The immediate cause of them, how¬ 
ever, is the habit of believing too little . “Make the 
heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and 
shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear 
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and 
convert, and be healed I” 1 The Jews were given pver 
1 Isaiah vi, 10. o 2 


84 


BAD HABIT. 


to infidelity as a punishment for their sins; in other 
words, that grace was withdrawn from them, by which 
alone their habitual incredulity could be overcome. So 
long had they been accustomed to distrust God, and to 
place their dependence on a system of their own, that 
when Jesus came to contradict and overturn it, they 
“could not believe” in their lowly Redeemer. The 
purity of his doctrine, and the greatness of his miracles, 
were alike disregarded—evidence, the clearest and the 
strongest, passed for nothing ! 

The habit of leaning to our own understanding in 
matters of religion, and of rejecting every truth which 
does not accord with our preconceived notions, is one 
of the most insinuating and dangerous to which we are 
liable. It soon triumphs, not merely over simple faith, 
but even over sound evidence, and enlightened reason. 
Finally, if indulged in, it may conduct the unbeliever 
downwards, from step to step, in the road of darkness, 
until “the fool shall say in his heart, there is no God.” J 

Infidelity, however, even when it fails to blind the 
understanding, may nevertheless infect the heart. 
This is indeed its birthplace, and continues to be its 
abode, in men of all descriptions and characters, until 
it is dislodged by grace. What is ungodliness, but 
practical atheism ? And must we not allow that while 
there are many bad habits which peculiarly infest 
individuals or classes of men, the habit of ungodliness 
is universal in our fallen race ? We are by nature the 
“children of wrath,” separated from God by our sins, 
and while we continue in this state of alienation, we 
forget and disregard him; we do not live in his fear; 

1 Psalm xiv, 1. 


BAD HABIT. 


85 


we hide ourselves from the light of his law; we have 
no pleasure in serving him; we are not actuated by 
love towards him; we do not seek his glory. The im¬ 
pression of his presence and holiness is always growing 
weaker; the practice of distrusting and disobeying 
him, is continually gaining ground upon us; again and 
again our disaffection breaks out into rebellion, and our 
natural alienation from the Author of our being, be¬ 
comes inveterate by habit. To this melancholy condi¬ 
tion, so general among unregenerate men, the doctrine 
of the prophet applies in all its force. “ Can the 
Ethiopian change his skin , or the leopard his spots? 
then may ye also do good that are accustomed to 
do evil?’ 1 

Such is the language of experience—of true moral 
philosophy—of revealed religion. Man prone to cor¬ 
ruption, and inured from his youth to many an evil 
way, is utterly destitute of any natural or inherent 
power to save or change himself. It is only by the 
free grace of God that we are enabled to “ put off the 
old man which is corrdpt according to the deceitful 
lusts, and to put on the new man, which, after God, is 
created in righteousness and true holiness.” 2 

Nothing indeed can more strongly show the necessity 
of a divine influence for the regeneration of mankind, 
than a just view of our present subject. When it is 
our lot to contend not merely with the original perver¬ 
sion of our nature, but with that state of confirmed 
corruption and rebellion against the Lord, which is the 
result of evil custom , we may rest assured that in order 
1 Jer. xiii, 23. 2 Eph. iv, 22—24. 


86 


BAD HABIT. 


to overcome these enemies, we stand in absolute need of 
the power of the Holy spirit. Without the gracious 
aid of an omnipotent and most merciful Being, it is 
utterly impossible for us to obtain the victory. 

Here, however, we must not lose sight of an im¬ 
portant distinction. There is a morality, which is not 
holiness , and there may also be a change for the better 
in our moral habits, which is not sanctification. We 
may easily suppose the case of a drunkard, who is con¬ 
vinced of the folly and danger of his course, and 
is weary of the distress entailed on himself and his 
family by his intemperate habits. Urged by no mean 
motives, he makes a strong effort to escape from his 
trammels; he places himself, perhaps, under the care 
of a friend, joins a Temperance Society, and finally, 
while he continues to abstain from all intoxicating 
drinks, he gradually loses his propensity, and becomes 
a sober man. Now, if the external reform has been 
effected without the surrender of his heart to God, 
it must not be hailed as a work of saving grace. 

On a similar principle, it cannot be denied that a 
certain degree of proficiency in good moral habits—for 
example, in beneficence, industry, honest dealing, and 
self-government—is sometimes attained by persons who 
appear to have but little true godliness ; and it is pos¬ 
sible that in consequence of careful training, their 
children, after them, may maintain the practice of the 
same virtues. Much more clearly, however, among 
children who are brought up by religious parents in a 
knowledge of the Scriptures, in the nurture and ad¬ 
monition of the Lord, we often perceive the operation 


BAD HABIT. 


87 


of a conscientious principle, long before we have reason 
to conclude that they are “ born of the Spirit.” Nor 
can it be doubted that the Christian parent is often 
successful in weaning his offspring from bad habits of 
thought and action, and in leading them forward, from 
one step to another, in the path of virtue. 

In all these cases much is to ascribed, in my opinion, 
to a divine influence. God is on the side of virtue, and 
he may condescend to bless an honest effort directed to 
virtuous - ends, even in those who are not yet his 
children by adoption. With regard to the offspring of 
religious parents, there can be no doubt that every 
degree of success in the work of Christian education, 
must be attributed to His blessing. The preparatory 
work of the Spirit has evidently a vast scope in the 
divine economy, and who shall venture to affix a limit 
to the secret yet manifold visitations of lightfrom above ? 

Nevertheless, so long as the soul of man continues in 
its unregenerate state, it will be sure to harbour many 
evil habits, and above all others, the habit of ungodli¬ 
ness. Nothing short of an absolute change of heart— 
a new birth unto righteousness—can cure the evil at 
its root; nothing less powerful than saving grace can 
lead to sanctification, that is, to the formation of the 
habit of holiness. 

Now as grace is absolutely necessary for this highest 
of moral purposes, so is it adequate to its end. This 
is a truth which we cannot fail to deduce from the 
omnipotence of God, and it is confirmed both by Scrip¬ 
ture and experience. Scripture assures us that “ the 
fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, 


88 


BAD HABIT. 


and truth,” 1 and experience affords abundant proofs 
that the living and abiding faith of the humble Chris¬ 
tian, is productive of a sober, righteous, and godly life. 
The believer in Jesus is indeed engaged in an arduous 
warfare, and long must he expect to contend with in¬ 
dwelling sin and evil habit , before he obtains his final 
victory. Nevertheless he has God on his side, and by 
means of a power infinitely superior to his own, he is 
enabled to forsake the works of darkness, and to walk 
watchfully before the Lord, in the light of the living. 

Far be it from me to undervalue the habits of virtue 
by whomsoever practised, and in whatsoever form. 
Unquestionably they have their value—they also have 
their reward—even when they appear to be the mere 
result of system and education. But the morality pro¬ 
duced by vital religion is of a far superior character ; 
no earthly, spurious article—no outward show, without 
intrinsic worth. The soil from which it springs, is a 
broken heart, the element in which it flourishes, is the 
love of God , and the end to which it leads, is a state of 
perfect and endless purity. 

“ Struck by that light, the human heart, 

A barren soil no more, 

Sends the sweet smell of grace abroad, 

Where serpents lurked before. 

“ The soul, a dreary province once 
Of Satan’s dark domain, 

Feels a new empire form’d within, 

And owns a heavenly reign.” 

To prescribe bounds, in our own wisdom, to the in- 
1 Eph. v, 9. 


BAD HABIT. 


89 


fluence of that Spirit, which, like the wind, bloweth 
where it listeth, and to assert that grace cannot operate 
where Christianity is unknown—would ill become 
creatures so blind and ignorant as we are. Yet, be¬ 
yond all question, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 
is the great instrument which God has appointed for 
turning away mankind from their iniquities, and for 
leading them into “newness of life.” It is the principal 
means employed by the Holy Spirit for delivering us 
from our natural corruption, and for changing our bad 
habits into good ones. 

That Christianity is, with a perfect wisdom and 
skill, adapted to the great work of renovating mankind, 
those will be the most ready to allow, who have the 
most experimental acquaintance with its nature and 
structure. Revealed religion detects our corruption, 
unfolds the heart-searching spirituality of the law, 
makes known the terrors and joys of an eternal future, 
displays the free mercy of God in Christ Jesus, and 
offers to all that are athirst, the waters of eternal life. 
Thus does it bring into play the purest and most 
powerful motives by which a rational creature can be 
actuated, and bears with an unrivalled force on the 
mind and heart of man. 

The terrors of the law, the holiness of God, the 
doctrine of man’s responsibility, and the revelation of 
judgment to come, all unite in exciting an awful fear. 
The experience of divine grace, the earnest of the 
Spirit, the promise of heaven, are equally adapted to 
raise our hope. These two motives are each of deep 
importance in the work of religion; the one leads to 


90 


BAD HABIT. 


watchfulness and circumspection; the other animates 
our efforts and inspires our courage in the Christian 
race. But above all, love is a motive of sovereign 
efficacy, and it is brought into full action by the gos¬ 
pel, and the gospel only. By the glad tidings of the 
love and mercy of our Creator, in Christ Jesus, the 
Christian is taught to love God in return. “ The love 
of Christ constraineth us”—this is the mainspring of 
the devotion of the heart to God. Love demands an 
unconditional surrender of our wills to the will cf our 
Heavenly Father; it binds us by the dearest of ties to 
the service of our Redeemer. And not only does this 
best and strongest of motives lead to decision in reli¬ 
gion, but it imbues the Christian with the principle of 
perseverance. It imparts to him a perpetual move¬ 
ment of spirit towards the supreme object of his affec¬ 
tions, towards the heaven in which he dwells, and 
towards the holiness without which no man can see him. 

Were it proposed to raise to the top of a lofty hill, 
some vast and ponderous substance lying at its base, 
how vain for that purpose would be the unassisted 
efforts of the human arm! But apply the lever and 
the pulley, each in its own place, and according to its 
respective action, and the difficulty, which appeared to 
be insuperable, is rapidly overcome. In spite of every 
obstruction, the mighty mass moves upwards, its 
course is gradual but certain, and presently it rests on 
the summit—the victory is won. Very similar is the 
work of true religion. The human heart is a dead 
weight, buried in miry clay, chained to the pit of cor¬ 
ruption by the force of evil habit. And there is no 


BAD HABIT. 


91 


native power inherent in man, by which he can deliver 
it from its debased condition, or raise it towards those 
heavenly regions where all is godliness, purity, and 
peace. But when, through the matchless influence of 
Christianity, our motives are set to work—when fear 
operates on the soul from one side, and hope from the 
other; above all, when it is raised and impelled from 
below, by the constraining and elevating force of love 
—it cannot fail to move in a heavenly direction. 
Lightened and purified as it ascends, it is sure, in the 
end, to be made victorious, and to find its resting place 
on Mount Zion, “the city of the Great King.” Yet 
we know that the mechanical forces will be utterly 
useless unless there be applied an external power to 
bring them to bear. We still require the human arm, 
or the strength of the horse, the falling water, or the 
rising steam. And just as useless will be our very 
best motives for effecting that triumph over self, which 
is the main purpose of Christianity, unless they are 
quickened into action, and rightly directed and applied, 
by the immediate influences of the Holy Spirit. 

It appears, then, that had mankind continued in their 
state of pristine innocence, the faculty of habit might 
have been productive, in our species, of an indefinite 
degree both of virtue and power; but that under the 
fall, it is the means by which our natural depravity 
is confirmed, and the bonds of Satan multiplied and 
strengthened in a fearful manner. The subject has 
been illustrated by the case of the desperate felon—of 
the gamester and the drunkard—of the sensual and the 
cruel—of the warrior and conqueror—of the confirmed 


92 


BAD HABIT. 


jester—of the murmurer against God—of the misan¬ 
thrope and the liar—of him who believes too much— 
of him who believes too little—and finally by a view 
of a bad habit universal among unregenerate men, that 
of ungodliness. The effect of merely human efforts in 
correcting bad habits, and in the pursuit of virtue, and 
especially the practical result of a guarded education, 
have been duly appreciated: but we have clearly seen 
that for a radical cure—for such a change of habit as 
will fit us for the element of heaven—divine and saving 
grace is absolutely essential. And lastly, as this grace 
is essential, so it is sufficient; and the gospel of Jesus 
Christ, considered as the instrument, is adapted to its 
end with a perfect precision. Its very structure imparts 
to it, under the Spirit of God, a matchless influence 
over the dispositions, the feelings, and the conduct of 
men. It is the best of weapons for slaying our evil 
habits, for cleaving our chains asunder, and for deliver¬ 
ing us from all our corruptions. 

In conclusion, however, we have to offer one practical 
remark. Although the regeneration and redemption 
of man is exclusively a work of grace i we are com¬ 
manded by the divine precepts, and enabled by the 
divine Spirit, to co-operate with the Lord, for the 
accomplishment of this blessed purpose. “ Work out 
your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is 
God who worketh in you to will and to do of his good 
pleasure .” 1 Our warmest desires, our most strenuous 
efforts, our watchfulness and prayers, our undivided 
mind, must all be thrown into the work. We must 

1 Phil, ii, 12. 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES 


93 


carry on a perpetual warfare with all our evil habits, 
we must check and counteract them severally, by form¬ 
ing opposite habits on the side of virtue. In dependence 
on the great Captain of our salvation, we must rally 
our own forces together, and oppose a friend to a foe 
in every part of the line of battle. We must never cast 
away a single article of the Christian’s armour. Avail¬ 
ing ourselves, from day to day, of that divine influence 
which is so freely bestowed upon us, we must triumph 
over the passive impressions which temptation produces, 
by means of the ever-acting, ever-growing principles 
of faith and obedience. 


iCljnptrr (Etjirir. 

ON GOOD HABIT. 


SECTION I. 

General Principles of Education. 

We have already found occasion to observe that among 
the lower animals instinct is the prevailing charac¬ 
teristic. The crocodile seeks the water as soon as he 
bursts from his shell; the new-born lizard, or worm, 
or fly, is presently invested with the ancient habits of 
his race: the birds of passage require no tutelage to 
enable them to choose the right time for their migra¬ 
tion ; the bee of this day’s generation is just as skilful 
a builder, and just as wise a geometrician, as his sire 
or his grandsire. All these are led along in their 
appointed path by a ruling faculty which requires no 
training, because it is susceptible of no improvement. 

Yet the constitution, even of dumb animals, affords 
a certain scope for the formation of habit, and there¬ 
fore for discipline and education—a scope which (as 
we have already remarked) is greatly enlarged when 
they come under the dominion of man, and are subject 
to domestication. 

On the other hand, with man himself, although he 
practices a few instinctive actions, education is of 



ON EDUCATION. 


95 


paramount importance. The government of God 
over him, both natural and moral, is distinguished by- 
nothing more clearly than by a system of training, 
and the faculty of habit is the medium through which 
this system is carried into effect. That passive im¬ 
pressions should be weakened, and active principles 
strengthened by repetition, and that every kind of 
action should become easy to us in proportion to the 
frequency with which it is performed, are laws of our 
nature which serve a vast variety of ends. Some of 
these ends may be far beyond the reach of our present 
knowledge or conception, and there can be no greater 
presumption on our parts than to pretend to limit the 
final causes for which God ordains and acts. Yet we 
run no risk in asserting that one obvious purpose of 
this divine economy is, that by the right use of all our 
faculties in the days of our youth, we may be pre¬ 
pared for the functions and duties of mature life. In 
like manner, through the performance of these func¬ 
tions and duties, and the consequent settlement in us 
of certain dispositions and principles, we may, in the 
meridian of our day, be gradually educated for an 
honourable and tranquil old age. 

When, however, we speak of education as of such 
essential importance to the destinies of mankind, we by 
no means confine our views to human parents, teachers, 
or rulers. The all-wise Creator of man condescends 
to educate him for the various purposes of his being; 
and although, to a certain extent, he carries on the 
work in us, through the government and instruction of 
our fellow-men, yet they are nothing more than his 
instruments. 


96 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES 


God has, himself, placed us in circumstances which 
produce the development of our bodily and mental 
powers. By an almost infinite variety of excitement, 
by the guidance of an ever-plastic hand, he invites and 
even constrains us to use these powers, and by use to 
improve and enlarge them. At the same time he 
wisely subjects us to discipline and restraint, and by 
that which we suffer teaches us what we are to avoid. 
While he endues us with appetites, and places us in the 
midst of those objects by which they may be gratified, 
he inflicts upon us, even here, a variety of punishments 
for indulging them unduly. By evidence of a practical 
nature, he proves to us that prudence and self-denial 
are absolutely essential to our welfare in the world. 
Above all, however, he commits all our faculties to the 
rule of conscience; and, as a guide to our conscience, 
enlightens us with his Spirit, and writes his law on the 
tablet of the heart. 

As an example of the education to which we are 
subjected under the natural government of God, we may 
again refer to the power, so gradually obtained, in very 
early life, of correct and intelligent sight. He who 
formed the machinery of the eye—the pupil by which 
it receives the rays of light, the lense by which it 
refracts them, the muscles by which it is directed, and 
the nerve through which it perceives—prepares the 
organ for its right use, by an unfelt, yet systematic 
schooling. Through the joint application of the other 
senses, and through the progressive exercise of judg¬ 
ment, the child is taught, by insensible degrees, to see 
things as they really are, to measure and compare their 
circumstances, to understand their true proportions. 


OF EDUCATION. 97 

It is said that when a young German, who had been 
confined from his earliest years in a dark dungeon, was 
transferred to a light apartment, he learned to see 
aright only by degrees. It was long before he could 
be made to comprehend that a fine prospect, visible 
from his window, was any thing more than a confused 
mass of colours dashed on the shutter. But under a 
process of education, and when the exercise of his 
judgment had become habitual, the apparent chaos was 
brought into order, the several objects of vision were 
seen in their true places and proportions, and all was 
harmony and beauty. 

Under the training which a good Providence has 
ordained for us, something of the same kind takes 
place, though we scarcely know how, with respect to 
most of our faculties, both of body and mind. By a 
natural scheme of education and discipline, we are gra¬ 
dually instructed in the proper use of them, and almost 
in spite of ourselves they are enlarged and improved 
as we advance in life. With respect to the faculty by 
which we judge of right and wrong, there can be no 
doubt that it is miserably weakened in fallen man, and 
that it is liable to be greatly perverted by education 
and example. Nevertheless, the law of the Lord can 
never change ; and the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
when it is submitted to, will restore this highest of 
our faculties to its original order; it will stamp upon 
its decisions the unvarying features of holiness and 
truth. 

We may now proceed to consider what are the right 
principles of education, regarded as the work of man. 

H 


98 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES 


The first principle which ought ever to be kept in 
view by parents, tutors, and rulers of every description, 
is, that they are mere instruments in the hands of the 
Creator , and that it is at once their bounden duty and 
highest wisdom to act in the character of his vice¬ 
gerents, and in conformity to his will. This principle 
lies at the root of the science of education, and unless 
it be laid down clearly in the first instance by those to 
whom is committed the training of young people, and 
steadily maintained during the whole process of their 
work, they will be sure to involve themselves in irre¬ 
mediable error, and to plunge the objects of their care 
into darkness and sorrow. 

On this first principle depends a variety of general 
rules. Independently of the light of Holy Scripture, 
nature herself affords us many evidences of that which 
her Divine Author wills, respecting our bodily and 
mental functions. The tendencies of his natural 
government over us are often so clear as not to be 
mistaken ; those of his moral government are also 
discoverable, both from his law written on the heart, 
and from the perceptible course of his providence. 
Now, in conducting the work of education, we must 
endeavour to conform ourselves to these tendencies — 
we must be co-workers with the Lord; for it is He 
who made us and governs us, for a purpose of our 
highest happiness and his own glory. 

The following general rules of education may, with¬ 
out difficulty, be deduced from what we perceive and 
know of the natural and moral government of God. 
They are rules which the parent or teacher who de- 


OP EDUCATION. 


99 


sires, in the work of education, to co-operate with His 
all-wise design, will by no means venture to disregard 
or infringe. 

I. It is a conspicuous fact that the formation of good 
habits is one principal means which God has ordained 
for our being trained to a life of usefulness and happi¬ 
ness. This therefore is a point to which, in every de¬ 
partment of education, our attention must be studiously 
directed; for unless good habits be formed in our chil¬ 
dren and pupils, it will be all in vain to give them 
rules. The oftener any rule or precept is repeated, 
the less is the effect which, on each successive occasion, 
it will produce on the mind—this decay of the passive 
impression can be counteracted only by the habitual 
exercise of active principles. 

Here, however, it ought to be remarked, that good 
habits are most easily formed when they anticipate 
bad ones —prevention is better than cure. 

II. The faculties with which the Creator has en¬ 
dowed us, both bodily and mental, are made for use, 
and by means of use are destined for improvement. 
This is the obvious tendency of nature, and were it not 
for the obstructions which are perpetually arising from 
our present imperfect and corrupt condition, it seems 
probable that the uniform result of youth would be a 
perfect condition of all our faculties in maturity. It 
is the duty of the educator to work in unison with this 
tendency, to remove the obstructions by which it is 
hindered, and as far as possible to carry it into effect. 
We are always to remember that it is the benevolent 
purpose of Him whom, as guardians of the young, we 

h 2 


100 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES 


represent, that the creature under our care should be 
made the most of, both in body and mind. 

III. God, in whom dwells the perfection of mind, is 
Omniscient; with his infinite power and wisdom, cor¬ 
responds the absolute universality of his knowledge. 
Beyond all doubt, it is his gracious design that our 
rational minds, which may be compared to a spark from 
the divine intelligence, should be furnished with know¬ 
ledge in proportion to their capacity. To impart know¬ 
ledge, therefore, to the young, and still more to adapt 
their mental faculties to the future and permanent 
acquirement of it, is a very main concern in the work 
of education. It is our unquestionable duty, in both 
these respects, to aim at as high a standard as circum¬ 
stances will admit. 

IY. Yet there is nothing in the course of nature 
which appears to warrant an excess of cultivation. On 
the contrary, such an excess is sure to be punished in 
the end, by the lessening of the very powers which 
we desire to enlarge. It is evidently the will of the 
Creator and Ruler of nature, that none of his living 
creatures should be overstrained. Rest, facility, 
comfort, and the leisurely play of the faculties, form 
an indulgent part of our Heavenly Father’s training, 
which the human parent and tutor ought never to 
forget. 

Y. To every stage of childhood and youth, there 
ought to be appropriated its own measure of discipline 
and instruction. If the work of the instructor does 
not keep pace with the natural growth of the powers, 
those powers will never be properly developed ; but if 


OF EDUCATION. 


101 


it outruns that growth, they will flourish only to 
wither, they will soon be stunted and decay . 1 

VI. If God has bestowed upon a child some par¬ 
ticular genius, it seems io be the right part of the 
educator to suffer that genius to answer its purpose, 
and to work in the same direction. To thwart and 
contradict it, would be to oppose divine providence, 
and to mutilate the mental constitution of the child . 2 

1 “ Nec sum adeo aetatum imprudens, ut instandum teneris 
protinus acerbe putem, exigendamque plenam operam.— Nor am I 
so little observant of the years of children as to think that we ought to 
press severely on those of a tender age, and exact full labour from 
them:” Quintilian, de Institutione Oratoria, lib. i. “Nam ut vas- 
cula oris angusti superfusam humoris copiam respuunt; sensim 
autem influentibus, vel etiam instillatis complentur; sic aninii 
puerorum, quantum excipere possint, videndum est; nam majora 
intellectu, velut parum apertos ad percipiendum, animds non subi- 
bunt.— For as vessels with narrow mouths reject an abundance of 
water, when it is poured over them, but are filled with the fluid, when 
it flows or is dropped into them, by degrees; so must we watch how 
much the minds of children are able to receive. Things above their 
wider standing will find no entrance into their minds, which are not 
open to apprehend themIdem, lib. i, 2. 

* “ Illud tamen in primis testandum est, nihil prascepta atque 
artes valere nisi adjuvante natura. —This I must in the first place 
testify, that our precepts and arts are of no use at all, unless we have 
nature on our side: Quin til. de Instit. Orat. Prooem. “Virtus 
praeceptoris haberi solet, nec immerito, diligenter in iis quos erudi- 
endos susceperit, notare discrimina ingeniorum, et quo quemque 
natura maxime ferat, scire. Nam est in hoc incredibilis quaedam 
varietas, nec pauciores animorum pene, quam corporum formae.— 
It is deservedly considered meritorious in a preceptor, to mark the 
differences of genius in those whom he has undertaken to educate, and 
to ascertain in what direction nature would carry each of them. For 
there is in this respect an incredible variety, the forms of minds being 
almost as multifarious as those of bodies ’ Idem, lib. ii, 8. 


102 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES 


Yet He who, in his wisdom, bestows the natural taste 
and genius, provides a variety of checks, by which 
they may be kept within due bounds. The educator 
ought to observe these checks, and never suffer a par¬ 
ticular bias so to prevail, as to weaken the requisite 
operations of other faculties; much less to overflow 
any moral boundary. 

VII. All the faculties with which man is endued, 
are obviously intended to be exerted in harmony with 
each other, and this harmony depends on subordina¬ 
tion. In point of authority, one part of them is set 
above another. It is the evident design of the Creator, 
that the powers of the body should be subjected to 
those of the mind, and be employed under the 
guidance of reason; and again, both our bodily and 
intellectual powers are placed under the dominion of 
conscience. It is one of the first duties of the 
parent or tutor, to establish and maintain this order, 
in those who are placed under his care. The least 
deviation from it will discompose and injure the whole 
creature. 

VIII. Rewards and punishments form a conspicu¬ 
ous part of that training of man, which is carried 
on by the moral Governor of the universe. It is 
evident therefore that they are both of them, on 
proper occasions, legitimate means of discipline, in 
human education. But God’s chief rewarder and 
punisher, in the present life, is conscience ; and the 
parent or tutor will find all other rewards and pun¬ 
ishments comparatively needless, if the consciences 
of the young be watched and cultivated, and pre- 


OF EDUCATION. 


103 


served in a proper state of tenderness and energy . 1 

This rule however requires a little addition. God 
has ordained that the decisions of conscience should 
often be strengthened by the verdict of our fellow-men. 
He has given us a nature which seeks their approba¬ 
tion, and shrinks from their reproofs. Hence we may 
learn that commendation and blame, judiciously admin¬ 
istered, are perfectly consistent with the will of our 
Heavenly Father, and fill a highly important place in 
the work of education ; 2 

1 Punishment ought always to he applied with peculiar caution 
—the motive of fear being much less adapted to some children 
than to others: “ Quosdam continet metus, quosdam debilitat— 
Fear restrains some children, hut weakens others Quintil. de 
Tnstit. Orat. lib. i, 3. This sagacious writer entertained views on 
the subject of corporal punishment, which were far beyond the age 
in which he lived, and would do credit to the 19th century. 
“ Caedi vero discentes, quanquam et receptum sit, et Chryssippus 
non improbet, minime velim; primum quia deforme atque servile 
est, et certe, quod convenit, si aetatum mutes, injuria; deinde quod 
si cui tam est mens illiberalis, ut objurgatione non corrigatur; is 
etiam ad plagas, ut pessima quaeque mancipia, durabitur; pos- 
tremo, quod ne opus erit quidam hac castigatione, si assiduus 
studiorum exactor adstiterit— But I would by no means allow 
scholars to he beaten, although it is a received practice, and Chry- 
sippus does not disapprove it; first, because it is a shameful and 
servile practice—so much so, that if the age be changed it becomes 
an injury at law; secondly, because if a lad be of so ignoble a mind 
as not to be corrected by reproof, he will, like the worst slaves, be 
hardened even against stripes; lastly, because there will be no need of 
punishment, if a master be present, who diligently attends to the 
studies of his pupils ’ Idem. lib. i, 3. 

2 Blame, like punishment, must be sparingly used. Quintilian 
has marked the danger of it in matters of learning. “ Ne illud 
quidem admoneamus indignum est, ingenia puerorem nimia inte¬ 
rim emendationis severitate deficere; nam et desperant, et dolent, 


104 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES 


Most of the rules now mentioned will be found, in 
practice, to have a close dependence on the first, which 
enjoins the formation of good habits. It is chiefly 
through a right application of the faculty of habit that 
the young person is taught to make the most of all his 
powers ; to acquire and store up knowledge ; to adapt 
his exertions to the age and condition of his powers ; 
to pursue his natural genius with diligence, yet within 
right bounds; and lastly, through divine aid, to submit 
his body to the government of reason, and both his 
body and mind to that of conscience. Now, it is 
notorious that the habits of young people are, to a 
great extent, formed on the model of those examples 
with which they are most familiar. And what ex¬ 
ample is more constantly before their eyes, than that 
of the parent or tutor who is daily and hourly engaged 
in educating them ? 

The effect of example in education may be illus¬ 
trated by a reference to the arts of reading and writ¬ 
ing. The hand-writing of the pupil is, indeed, assisted 
by the precepts of his master; but it is formed on the 
copies which his master sets him. The modulations 
of a young person’s voice in reading may be partly 
the result of rules laid down for him; but the imi¬ 
tative faculty is here our chief resource—the pupil is 
sure to read after the manner of his teacher. The 

et novissime oderunt, et quod maxime nocet, dum omnia timent 
nihil connantur.— It is not unworthy of our notice, that the abilities 
of children are apt to fail them, when we too severely criticise their 
performances; for they despair, and are grieved, and at last hate us ; 
and what is still worse, while they fear everything , they attempt 
nothingInstit. Or at. lib. ii, 4. 


OF EDUCATION. 


105 


same principles apply to every branch of education, 
and exercise a powerful sway over the intellect, the 
affections, and even the moral conduct. Who then 
can doubt the importance of the following rule? 

IX. The educator of youth must place his depend¬ 
ence more upon example than precept. As far as the 
difference of age will permit, he ought to be a model 
to his pupils, and lead the way for them not only in 
forming habits of art, but in the whole process of 
intellectual, moral, and religious cultivation. 1 Of this 
rule, however, there is a second branch of equal im¬ 
portance with the first. While we humbly endeavour 
to promote the welfare of our children by setting them 
a good example, we must watch over them as mem¬ 
bers of society , and exercise continual vigilance, that 
our efforts may not be counteracted by the bad exam¬ 
ple of other persons, or one of another; for it is a 
certain truth that “ evil communications corrupt good 
manners.” In order to succeed in this endeavour, 
nothing is more necessary than constant Christian 
superintendence . When we are not present with our 
pupils ourselves, we must entrust them—even in their 
play hours—to the oversight of those who will protect 
them from the inroads of evil. 

All the rules which have now been stated, arise out 

1 “ Frequens imitatio transit in mores.— Frequent imitation 
passes into the habits Quintil. de Instit. Or at. lib. i, 11. 

But the master, in order to be imitated, must make himself 
agreeable to his pupils. “ Vix autem dici potest, quanto libentius 
imitemur eos quibus favemus.— It can hardly be expressed how 
much more willingly we imitate those persons whom we like: ” Idem , 
lib. ii, 2. 


106 


GENERAL PRINCIPLES 


of our first great principle, that we ought to carry on 
the work of education, as the vicegerents of that glorious 
Being who is Himself the Sovereign Trainer of his 
children; and that our work should be conducted in 
conformity to those gracious designs which he manifests 
by the order of both nature and providence. 

It appears, therefore, that while these rules harmonise 
with the principles of Christianity, and are adapted to 
the duties of Christian educators, they are severally 
suggested by an enlightened view, even of natural 
religion; but it is to revealed religion alone, that we 
are indebted for the full manifestation of the doctrine 
that God is love , as well as of the practical consequences 
to which that doctrine leads. “ God so loved the world 
that he gave his only-begotten Son”—here is the grand 
proof of the love of our Heavenly Father. But love 
begets love; and the Scriptures, while they unfold to 
us the scheme of redemption, plainly show us that love 
to him is at once our highest duty, and a motive of 
indispensable importance in all our actions. Again, 
they teach us that, under the influence of this motive, 
we are bound to observe the second great command¬ 
ment, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. 

These views suggest to us our next rule, the careful 
observance of which is well calculated to render the 
work of education effectual, because it has a constant 
tendency to make it delightful to each of the parties 
concerned in it. 

X. Under the primary motive of love to God, we 
ought, in the whole work of education, to be actuated 
by love towards the objects of our care; and this love 


OF EDUCATION. 


107 


ought neither to be interrupted by passion, nor marred 
by selfishness. Aiming with undeviating steadiness at 
their true and permanent welfare, love will by no means 
exclude a hardy system of discipline; yet it will always 
seek their enjoyment in the present , so far as it consists 
with their greater happiness in the future . On the 
other hand, we ought to accustom our children or pupils 
to act on the same principles; without excluding the 
motives of hope and fear (both of which have an im¬ 
portant province in the divine economy) we must lead 
them as far as possible to obey us, because of their love 
—first, to their Maker and Redeemer, and secondly, to 
ourselves. 

Thus will our government over them be tender as 
well as strong; thus will their obedience to us be will¬ 
ing as well as exact. It will also be uniform; for while 
fear, for the most part, ceases to operate, when the party 
feared is absent, love “ never faileth.” The absence of 
those who are the objects of it, will sometimes be found 
even to enhance its efficacy. 

The reader will have perceived from the whole tenor 
of the preceding remarks, that education , according to 
my view of it, is by no means the same thing as 
instruction , which it includes as one only of its essential 
parts. To teach our pupils science and literature, and 
to store their minds with useful knowledge, is indeed 
an object of great importance; but education embraces 
a far wider scope, and aims at the improvement of the 
whole man, body, intellect, and heart. On this ground 
the following rule is worthy of our close attention. 


108 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION. 

XI. The care bestowed, in education, on these con¬ 
stituent parts of man’s nature, ought to be applied in 
its right proportions —according to their respective 
practical importance, and according to that divinely 
appointed order, to which we have referred in a former 
rule. We must care for the bodies of our pupils so far 
as health, comfort, and propriety require. For their 
intellects our care must be more sedulous and emphatic, 
and it will certainly be one of our most interesting 
daily tasks to direct, illuminate, and enlarge all their 
rational faculties. But our chief endeavour must be to 
cherish in them those dispositions towards God and 
man, which lie at the root of a truly righteous and 
religious life, and which are necessary not only for a 
right performance of their temporal duties, but for their 
eternal welfare and happiness. In order to this end, 
the Holy Scriptures are our most important and effective 
instrument. Our pupils ought to be carefully instructed 
in the contents of these divine records, and led to a 
daily use of them in private. 

Our last rule applies to every branch of education, 
and crowns the whole subject. 

XII. As our education of children ought to be in 
strict conformity to the will and purpose of our Father 
in heaven, manifested to us in Nature, in Providence, 
and in Scripture, so it should be conducted, in all its 
parts, and especially in the part last alluded to, in the 
feeling of unqualified dependence on divine aid. The 
educator ought, with all diligence of soul, to seek for 
the enlightening and enlivening influences of the Holy 
Spirit. These he will find to be the grand qualifying 


GOOD HABITS OF BODY. 


109 


power, under which all his own faculties and acquire¬ 
ments will be rightly applied to the work which he has 
in hand. And having thus cast himself on the help of 
the Lord, he must quietly wait for the results of his 
efforts, even as “ the husbandman waiteth for the pre¬ 
cious fruit of the earth , and hath long patience for it , 
until he receive the early and the latter rain.” 


SECTION II. 

On Good Habits of Body. 

The comfort of life, and even life itself, depends on 
some of those bodily actions which are the effect of 
habit, almost as certainly, though not so directly, as 
they do on involuntary organic motion itself. It is, 
therefore, a subject of gratitude to our Heavenly 
Father, that we learn to perform these actions, and to 
perform them easily , as a matter of course, and almost 
imperceptibly to ourselves. For the habit of masti¬ 
cating our food, for instance, and for the use of the 
limbs in handling, walking, and running, we are in¬ 
debted to the force of nature, and next to nature, of 
example, much more than to the actual teaching of our 
fellow-men. 

Nevertheless, there is business left for the parent or 
tutor in watching and directing the bodily habits of 
children. Bad habits, in the carriage of the person, in 
the management of the voice, in the turning of the eye, 
very easily insinuate themselves, and sometimes become 
fixed in the child, almost before they are noticed; yet 
they may often be prevented or counteracted by the 



110 


GOOD HABITS 


early care of the watchful parent or nurse ; and the 
confirmed lisper, stutterer, or squinter, has, in many 
cases, great reason to complain of those to whom was 
committed the training of his childhood. 

It may not be wholly useless to offer a few remarks 
on the subject of stooping. The erect position of the 
body, and the manly fronting of the countenance, are 
among the most obvious marks which our Creator’s 
hand has impressed upon us, of our superiority to the 
lower animals. They have an appropriate connection 
with our appointed station, as intellectual and moral 
beings. Hence it follows that the formation, in young 
people, of an upright carriage, and of the habit of look¬ 
ing every man in the face, is a matter of no trifling 
importance. So far as it goes, it promotes mental 
vigour, a proper boldness of demeanour, and above all, 
openness and candour. Since no persons are so prone 
to stoop and hang down the head as the indolent, the 
bashful, and the sly, stooping must be regarded as a 
sort of auxiliary to indolence, bashfulness, and slyness. 
For mental and moral reasons, therefore, as well as for 
assisting the easy play of the lungs, we must endeavour 
to guard our children against this awkward propensity. 

The habit of an upright carriage of the head and 
shoulders, is useful in sitting as well as in standing or 
walking. Here it is opposed, not only to stooping, but 
to lounging. We might suppose that many robust 
young people in the present day, had been suddenly 
overtaken by the infirmities of extreme old age, were 
we to form a judgment from their perpetual inclination 
to an indolent posture of their bodies—their never- 


OF BODY. 


]11 


failing proneness to the use of sofas and easy chairs. 
Luxury, of a modern date, in the furniture of houses, 
has certainly thrown in their way many temptations to 
this mal-practice. But it will be found worth our 
while to cultivate in our families of children, the op¬ 
posite habit; for a young person who allows his body 
to lounge without restraint, will soon become a lounger 
in mind also. And when this -effect is once produced, 
he will be unfitted for most of the purposes of business 
and duty. 

There are few things in which the efficacy of habit 
is more perceptible than in walking. By habit this 
universal art is gained in infancy ; by perpetual use 
it is maintained in maturity. But some persons are 
accustomed to far greater exertions in walking than 
others ; and distances which their neighbour would 
find it impossible to traverse in a single journey on 
foot, are by them surmounted with perfect ease. We 
must of course make due allowance for differences of 
bodily strength ; but the superiority of power, in such 
cases, is mainly owing to habit. It would indeed be 
worse than folly to teach our young people to aim at 
the triumphs of the pedestrian ; but many are the sons 
of study and business, who would be twice as vigorous 
as they now are in body, and possibly in mind also, 
had they been trained, in the days of their youth, to 
walk often, to walk far, and to walk well. 

It is certainly desirable for young people of both 
sexes, that they should be early trained, when circum¬ 
stances allow of it, in the practice of riding on horse¬ 
back ; and that they should be taught to ride securely 


112 


GOOD HABITS 


and easily. In the first place, this practice is one of 
the principal conveniences of life ; secondly, it greatly 
promotes the health, and assists the tone of the intellect 
and spirits, as well as the energy of the body ; and 
thirdly, it seldom fails to give our children pleasure — 
an object, in itself, well worthy of attention. Yet this 
is a part of education which requires considerable 
caution. The Christian parent who so much encour¬ 
ages the art of riding among his children, that his 
daughters become masculine, and his sons addicted to 
the hunt, will find, in the end, abundant cause to repent 
of his folly. 

The manly exercise of the limbs in swimming , con¬ 
nected as it is with the immersion of the body in water, 
is a healthy and invigorating practice ; and when we 
consider how often it has been blessed by the Ruler of 
all things, as a means of rescuing his rational creatures 
from sudden death, we must confess that to teach our 
boys to swim, is nothing short of a duty. To neglect 
this object, is to refuse to avail ourselves of one of the 
links in the chain of a benevolent Providence. Let a 
man who is destitute of the power of swimming be 
exposed to imminent danger at sea, within a short 
distance from land ; or let him be standing on the 
shore, while some hapless fellow-creature, whom he 
might have delivered, is struggling with the waves, 
and he will find good reason to blame both himself and 
his parents, for the neglect of one of his talents. 

We often hear that dancing produces a great effect 
in imparting vigour to the frame, and ease to its move¬ 
ments ; but these objects may be accomplished by means 


OF BODY. 


113 


of a variety of harmless exercises, and certainly they 
ought never to be pursued at the risk of moral injury. 
Religious parents who call to mind the temptations to 
vanity, as well as the trials of temper, with which the 
ball-room teems, and who reflect on the wantonness of 
giving up to dissipation and frivolity, those livelong 
hours which ought to be spent in sleep as a prepara¬ 
tion for duty , will surely never commit their boys and 
girls to the tutelage of a dancing-master. The evils 
which arise from dancing, as it is practised in fashion¬ 
able life, are indeed so glaring, that there can be 
no doubt, in my opinion, of its being our duty to 
exclude it from the bodily exercises in which we allow 
our children to be trained. 

We have already found occasion to observe that the 
hand is the appointed comrade of our intellectual 
powers. By the hand we avail ourselves of our reason, 
perform our purposes, and execute our arts; surely 
then a dexterous use of this organ may be reckoned 
among those bodily habits which adorn and facilitate 
life, and in which our young people ought to be care¬ 
fully trained. Those who have suffered many an 
inconvenience from the want of handiness , may gene¬ 
rally ascribe it to a defect in their education, full as 
much as to their native unskilfulness; and no persons 
will be more desirous that their children after them 
should labour under no such disadvantage. 

Few circumstances make a greater difference between 
one man and another, than the presence or absence of 
dexterity. For example, a surgeon may be deeply 
versed in anatomy ; yet if he cannot make a ready use 

i 


114 


GOOD HABITS 


of his instruments, his practice will soon fall short of 
that of his handy brother, who boasts but little science. 

But to look only at those demands upon our skill, 
which naturally arise in the course of almost every 
man’s life—what a convenience it is to be able to make 
an easy use of the hammer or chisel; to bridle, saddle, 
and harness our horses; to remedy any little injury 
which may occur to our carriage on a journey; to pack 
many articles in a small compass; to carve for a 
family neatly and quickly; to handle the oar, or man¬ 
age the sail, when occasion may require it; and to 
drive with at least so much skill as may be the means 
of avoiding danger. Handiness is a qualification which 
runs through the whole of a man’s circumstances; it 
renders his passage through this rough world consider¬ 
ably easier than it would otherwise be; above all, it 
helps him to maintain an honourable independence. 

Nor ought the boy at school to be suffered to under¬ 
rate the importance of dexterity in play . It is greatly 
to the advantage of young people, with respect to the 
formation of their characters, that when they play they 
should do it well, and for a good purpose. 1 The tutor 
will be far indeed from losing his time, and may easily 
avoid the loss of his authority, while he mingles in the 
sport3 of his pupils, and sets them an example both of 

1 “ Nec me offenderit lusus in pueris; est et hoc signum alacri- 
tatis; neque ilium tristem semperque demissum sperare possum 
erectse circa studia mentis fore, cum in hoc quoque maxime naturali 
setatibus illis impetu jaceat. Modus tamen sit remissionibus, ne 
aut odium studiorum faciant negatae, aut otii consuetudinem, nimiae. 
—Nor should I be offended by play, in boys , for it is a sign of alac¬ 
rity. I cannot hope that the boy who is dull and hangs down his liead y 


OF BODY. 


115 


activity and skill, in wielding tlie bat, or in throwing, 
bowling, or catching the ball. 

This branch of our subject, however, appears to de¬ 
mand a passing remark of a moral and religious 
import. There is much of true philosophy in the 
Scripture term, “ clean hands.” “ Who shall ascend 
into the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his 
holy place ? He that hath clean hands and a pure 
heart.” 1 “ Cleanse your hands ye sinners, and purify 

your hearts, ye double minded.” 2 With an eminent 
degree of precision have the sacred writers kept in 
view, that as all evil thoughts and designs spring out 
of the heart, so it is the hand by which, very generally, 
they are carried into effect. A man of clean hands, is 
one who abstains from every deed polluted by fraud, 
malice, or impurity. When, therefore, we recommend 
to our young people the easy application of the hand to 
a vast variety of common purposes, we must never for¬ 
get to enforce the necessity of harmlessness in all their 
pursuits; to warn them against that which is wrong 
and that which leads to wrong; to teach them to listen to 
the voice of the inward monitor, when he is heard to 
say, “Thus far shalt thou go, but no farther.” 3 

(in his play hours,) will he of an erect mind in his studies, since he 
falls flat in that kind of exertion which is so natural to his age. But 
let the hours of play be well measured, lest, if denied , they should 
produce a dislike of study, or, if excessive, the habit of idleness 
Quintil. de Instit. Orat. lib. i, 3. 

1 Psalm xxiv, 3, 4. 2 James iv, 8. 1 

3 “ Protinus ergo, ne quid cupide, ne quid improbe, ne quid im- 
potenter faciat, monendus est puer. —Therefore the boy is to be ad¬ 
monished, that he do nothing greedily, nothing wickedly, and nothing 
weakly Quintil. de Instit. Orat. lib. i, 3. 

i 2 


116 


GOOD HABITS 


Cleanliness, in its literal sense, may certainly be 
numbered among good habits of body. It is needless 
to insist on its importance for the purposes of health, 
and for the personal comfort both of individuals and 
of families. But the mind has some part in this mat¬ 
ter, both as to its origin and its effect. To make the 
most of that choice gift of nature, cold water, for the 
refreshment and cleansing of the person, requires some 
spirit and diligence; it is one of those lesser duties 
which the indolent part of mankind are prone to neg¬ 
lect. From all such laziness we must endeavour to 
preserve or reclaim our children; and we shall gene¬ 
rally find that a daily effort to be clean will re-act upon 
their mental constitution, and in some measure pro¬ 
mote the health of their souls, as well as bodies. 
Cleanliness of person, ought, of course, to go hand in 
hand with a proper attention to decorum and neatness 
in attire. Such matters, when kept within their true 
bounds, are of greater consequence than many persons 
imagine. Young people who allow themselves the 
liberty of a slovenly appearance, will too often display 
analogous defects both in learning and conduct. 

In connection with the subject of bodily habits , it 
may be well to offer a remark or two on the due con¬ 
trol of our appetites. That it is of the utmost 
importance for our welfare and happiness even in the 
present life, that these should be kept in right order, 
and indulged only on right occasions and in a right 
degree, is proved by multiplied experience. If reason 
and conscience do not rule the body—if their reign 
over it be partial and incomplete—much more if the 


OF BODY. 


117 


true order of our faculties be reversed, and the body 
triumph over them both—bitter and evil will be the 
consequence. There will soon be an end of health and 
respectability; and, therefore, independently of higher 
matters, an end of all worldly comfort. Now the due 
regulation of the appetities must originate in the mind, 
and through the operation of the mind, (influenced of 
course by divine grace,) it must be carried on and per¬ 
fected ; nevertheless it is wonderfully aided by good 
habits of body. 

Some persons are apt to say hard things of their 
bodies, and to lay their faults on their physical con¬ 
stitution ; but accustom the body to sobriety and 
temperance, and it will presently cease to make the 
importunate demands upon us, which lead to the 
subversion of these qualities. The well ordered frame 
will no longer require any improper stimulants—the 
palate will lose its taste for the glowing liquor and the 
luscious dainty—the stomach will positively refuse an 
inordinate quantity either of food or beverage. 

There is another propensity which requires a just 
and vigilant control, as well as appetites of a more 
active character—I mean the propensity to sleep. 
“ Yet a little sleep, a little slumber—a little folding of 
the hands to sleep—so shall thy poverty come as one 
that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man .” 1 
Early rising , so far as health and strength allow of it, 
is unquestionably a bodily habit of great value, and 
bodily though it be, it is usually the result of a well 
ordered and energetic mind. At the rate of a single 

1 Prov. vi, 10, 11. 


J18 


GOOD HABITS 


hour per diem , redeemed from the needless slumbers of 
the morning, the early riser adds fifteen days, consist¬ 
ing entirely of working hours, to every passing year— 
a number equal, for all active purposes, to a month of 
common days. What important economy is here— 
what an enlargement of opportunity for improving 
ourselves, for benefitting our fellow-men, and for 
serving our Creator! What a means of health and 
usefulness both for body and mind ! Yet this desirable 
practice must not be overstrained. Sound sleep is 
a blessing which rests, with peculiar force and sweet¬ 
ness, on the eyelids of the young and uncontaminated. 
The great point in all such matters, is to observe the 
right medium. The play of nature ought to be at once 
vigorous and easy; nor will the young Christian give 
way to sloth, while he bears in mind the apostolic 
precept, “ Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as unto the 
Lord, and not unto man.” 


SECTION III. 

On Good Habits of Art. 

In the course of the preceding remarks, the subject of 
good habits of art has been, in some degree, anticipated; 
for it is obvious that walking, riding, swimming, and 
the numberless common practices which call into action 
the quality of handiness , are all of them arts. Although 
executed by the body, they require corresponding ex¬ 
ertions of the mind, and they are exercised under the 
sovereign orders of the will. Now, in all these 
matters, it is practice, and practice only, which makes 




OF ART. 


119 


perfect; difficulties fade away by the law of “passive 
impressions;” facilities increase by that of “active 
habits.” 

But we must pursue the subject a little farther, in 
reference to certain arts which are commonly taught in 
families and schools. In some of these, genius occupies 
an important place; but habit asserts her sway over 
them all. 

It is not my purpose to dwell on arts which belong 
to particular trades and professions ; such as the 
various kinds of mechanism, surgery, agriculture, &c. 
These may be dismissed with the general remark, that 
the proper stage of youth for instruction in such pur¬ 
suits is neither infancy nor early boyhood ; but the 
last few years before the arrival of manhood. Our 
children must be trained in good principles and funda¬ 
mental good habits ; and on the nearer approach to 
maturity, when they are old enough to evince a decided 
tendency towards some particular avocation, we must 
place them under fresh training, in order to qualify 
them for their specific duties. Boys who are contem¬ 
porary at school, are for the most part subject to the 
same system of education ; but how many are the lines, 
according to the good order of Providence, in which 
they afterwards diverge ! If the root of the tree be 
well watered, and the trunk be healthy, the branches, 
at the point of division, will shoot with vigour in many 
different directions. 

In considering the arts which are properly taught to 
children , we may commence with one which belongs 
chiefly to females. Time was, when in the education 


120 


GOOD HABITS 


of girls, too many hours were bestowed on needle¬ 
work. To nimbleness of finger and correctness of 
embroidery, were sacrificed the cultivation of the 
understanding, and even the enlargement of the heart. 
But this does not appear to be the danger of the 
present day ; and a caution is evidently required, that 
while our attention is mainly given to higher matters, 
our daughters should not be led to imagine that the 
needle may, without impropriety, be laid aside. To 
handle it well is both useful and tasteful —much more 
tasteful than to perform some higher art in a second- 
rate manner . 1 Those who call to mind the sober 
pleasures of the winter evening, when the girls of a 
family are at work, while the father or mother reads 
aloud to the assembled circle, will be little disposed to 
under-rate the art of the sempstress. 

There is no more curious proof of the effect of 
animal mechanics, and no more striking example of the 
power of habit, than is afforded by the art of writing. 
What a multitude of bones, joints, muscles, and nerves 
are brought into harmonious and successful action, as 
each succeeding line lives under our pen ! The per¬ 
fection of hand-writing consists, first in clearness; 

1 The idea of usefulness forms an important ingredient in ques¬ 
tions of taste. A temple, in a pleasure ground, which is erected 
solely for ornament, and does not even profess to he of any use, is 
rather offensive than pleasing. But let the same building be 
applied to some useful or benevolent purpose—a school, for ex¬ 
ample—and we instantly allow that it is truly ornamental. Is not 
sewing for the poor, in our family parties, in better taste, as well as 
more desirable in other respects, than those lighter and far less 
useful descriptions of work, which are now so common ? 


OF ART. 


121 


secondly, in fluency; and thirdly, in simple beauty. 
A man, whose letters cannot be read with ease, is in 
the same class with his neighbour who lisps or stam¬ 
mers in such a degree as to be scarcely intelligible. 
Since this is undeniably the fact, it is somewhat sur¬ 
prising that the art of good writing should be so little 
heeded in our classical schools—that it should seldom 
be practised in the higher classes of society—that it 
should in fact be considered vulgar, and fit only for 
clerks and men of business . 1 To the attainment of this 
art, however, a few lessons in Homer or Tacitus, in 
the course of the week, might be sacrificed with 
advantage ; and since the time is evidently at hand, 
when the estimate of every branch of study will be 
formed upon its usefulness, it may be presumed that 
such a sacrifice, when necessary, will ere long be 
cheerfully made. 

With the art of writing well, must of course be 
united that of correct orthography —a point which 
ought to be well secured in the earlier stages of educa¬ 
tion. If neglected in youth, good spelling will mostly 
continue to be a desideratum, through every other 
period of life. Yet few things can be more awkward 
and inconvenient than such a result. 

1 The same neglect or prejudice appears to have prevailed 
among the Romans. “Non est aliena res,” says Quintilian, 
“ quge fere ab honestis negligi solet, cura bene et velociter scribendi; 
tardior stilus cogitationem moratur; rudis et confusus intellectu 
care t .—Nor is the endeavour to write well and quickly (although 
generally neglected by gentlefolks) foreign to our purpose. A slow 
hand-writing delays the thoughts ; an awkward and confused one, 
presents no meaningInst. Or at. lib. i, 1. 


122 


GOOD HABITS 


What art is so general, and yet so seldom performed 
as it ought to be, as that of audible reading ? Let a 
passage full of excellence, either in prose or verse, be 
read aloud in succession, by several persons who have 
all enjoyed what is called a polite education. By most 
of them we shall hear it pronounced in a monotonous 
tone, with scarcely any regard to the pauses of the 
sentence, or to the modulation of the voice ; and what 
is the consequence ? An incapacity, on our parts, to 
attend to what is read—a tendency to wander away 
from the subject, or possibly to sleep, but none at all 
to listen. We might often be tempted to say to the 
reader, Understandest thou what thou readest ? (aga 
yz yjvu)ffx,ug a dbay/vwc'xs/g j 1 ) and we might in truth 
suppose that the subject of the passage had found no 
place in his mind and intellect. By some one of the 
party, on the contrary, we shall have the same sen¬ 
tences impressed on the ear, and through the ear on the 
mind, in all its excellence. Its meaning will become 
so clear as not to be mistaken, its beauty so perceptible 
as not to be disregarded. The cause of this change is 
the simple fact, that the present reader of the passage 
has thrown himself into the mind of its author, and by 
a due attention to pauses and modulation, has succeeded 
in presenting it to us in its native force. 

There is no book in the world, in the audible read¬ 
ing of which these differences become so striking or of 
so much consequence, as the Bible. The lofty strain 
of the prophet, the simple narrative of the evangelist, 
and the solemn doctrine of the apostle, may either lose 
1 Acts viii, 30. 


OP ART. 


123 


much of their efficacy from a bad enunciation, or 
through a good one may be presented to the hearers 
with so much force and clearness as to become doubly 
impressive. The voice and manner of the reader may 
supply the place of a comment. The daily reading 
of the Bible in families is a practice of deep import¬ 
ance, and one which, I am happy to believe, is rapidly 
spreading. How desirable, then, that our young people 
should be accustomed to read it aloud with propriety 
and feeling! I would not, however, be understood as 
pleading for any extravagant efforts to throw ourselves 
into the sentiments or scenes of the books which we 
read aloud. Such efforts are apt to produce a kind of 
acting which is far from being either reasonable or 
agreeable. Audible reading, and especially that of the 
Bible, is never so pleasant as when it is natural, free 
from affectation on the one hand, and from undue 
familiarity on the other . 1 

1 Quintilian warns us against a hasty method of reading. “ In- 
credibile est quantum morae lectioni, festinatione adjiciatur.— It is 
incredible how much one is hindered in reading , by making too much 
haste:” lib. i. 1. He truly observes that the art can be taught 
only in the act itself. “ Superest lectio—in qua puer ut sciat ubi 
suspendere spiritum debeat, quo loco versum distinguere, ubi 
clauditur sensus, unde incipiet, quando attollenda vel submittenda 
sit vox, quid quoque flexu, quid lentius, celerius, lenius, discendum, 
demonstrari nisi in opere ipso non potest. Unum est igitur quod 
in hac parte praecipiam, ut omnia ista facere possit, intelligat.— 
In the art of reading , which remains to be considered, it can be 
shown to a child only in the act itself where he is to pause; how he is 
to divide the sentence; where the sense stops and where it begins ; 
when the voice is to be raised and when lowered; with what modula¬ 
tion each word is to be spoken , and what is to be pronounced slowly , 


124 


GOOD HABITS 


During the many hours of the day which are devoted 
to the sedentary part of education, there ought to be 
seasons of comparative ease and relaxation. The bow 
must not be always fully bent, or the cord stretched to 
the extreme, and the boy and girl, even in the school¬ 
room, may justly claim their horce subsissivce —hours, 
not of play indeed, but of diminished exertion. Several 
periods of this description may properly occur in the 
course of the week; and, probably, they can scarcely 
be filled up better than by the art of drawing. In 
boys this art is valuable on account of the quietness 
and refinement to which it leads. In this way it may 
afford a wholesome balance to tendencies of a rougher 
and lower nature, and will often be found an agreeable 
manual occupation in the evening family circle. We 
ought, however, to take care that drawing be made to 
serve some useful purpose; and such a purpose is 
answered when it leads our young people to feel the 
pleasure of observing and contemplating nature. Sketch¬ 
ing from nature produces, in this respect, a happy effect 
on the mind. How greatly may our sons or daughters 
enhance their pleasure in travelling through any beau¬ 
tiful country, by committing to their portfolios lasting 
mementos of its favourite scenery! Not only will such 
mementos be valuable at a future time, but the atten¬ 
tion which they thus give to the objects delineated 
will heighten their sense of the various beauties with 

quickly, or softly. The only direction which I have to give, on this 
subject, is that he should understand how he may be able to do all 
these thingsIdem, i, 8. Certain it is, that all these things are 
essential to good reading. 


OF ART. 


125 


which a kind Providence has seen meet to adorn this 
lower world. It is a happy circumstance when young 
people are led by any innocent employment “ to look 
through nature up to nature’s God.” 

Here, perhaps, the reader will be ready to inquire 
whether I am prepared to make a similar allowance for 
a far more fascinating art—that of music? And if I 
do not reply in the affirmative, it is for this very rea¬ 
son, that it is far more fascinating. There is a great 
difference perceptible in children respecting their taste 
or ear for music—a difference probably depending 
more on their bodily texture than on the constitution 
of their minds. Now if girls have little or “no ear,” 
it is an obvious folly to bring them under the discipline 
of the music-master. Great is the toil -which that dis¬ 
cipline occasions, and almost innumerable the hours 
which it is apt to consume ; and, after all, the effect 
produced is nothing better than those second-rate per¬ 
formances which can afford no pleasure to the true lovers 
of the art. In such instances, therefore, instruction in 
music appears to be forbidden, even by the laws of taste. 

But let the state of the case be reversed—let our 
children have that delicate sensitiveness to sound, and 
that peculiar delight in vocal or instrumental harmony, 
which to many persons are evidently natural —shall 
we cultivate the talent, and give wings to the fasci¬ 
nation ? or shall we gently divert the taste and feelings 
of our pupils into some less exceptionable channel ? 

When I reflect on the corruption of the human 
heart, the follies and vices of the world, the enticements 
of the concert and the opera, and the easy access 


126 


GOOD HABITS 


afforded, by superior skill in music, to the centre of 
fashionable life, I am constrained to confess that the 
latter appears to me to be much the safer alternative. 
I am acquainted with many families of young people, 
in which the study of music is entirely avoided; and I 
have sometimes been thrown in the way of other fami¬ 
lies in which that study has been sedulously enforced 
and practised. I have observed that mental cultiva¬ 
tion, practical usefulness, and sober domestic duties, 
are, in general, more prevalent in the former than in 
the latter class of families; and I can fully subscribe 
to a sentiment which was once expressed to me by the 
late excellent Hannah More, that it is no venial error 
on the part of serious professors of religion, to allow 
and encourage their daughters to spend those precious 
hours which might have been devoted to truly bene¬ 
ficial pursuits, in ceaseless, tiresome thrumming on the 
harpsichord or pianoforte. Does not this practice pro¬ 
duce a flatness and emptiness of mind which tends to 
disqualify for the great purposes of life ? Is it not 
incompatible with that “ redeeming” of the time—that 
passing of the time of our “sojourning here in fear”— 
which are so strongly enjoined upon us by the apostles 
of Jesus Christ ? 

Music, as commonly practised in the world, has 
often brightened the glare of fashion, seduced into 
folly and dissipation, fanned the spirit of party, and 
inflamed the violence of war. That it is far from 
being devoid of danger, therefore, in a moral and 
spiritual point of view, the reflecting Christian can 
scarcely deny; nor does it appear to promote the 


OF ART. 


127 


welfare of mankind even in the present life. Although 
it may be productive of occasional pleasure, it seems, 
on the whole, to work in a direction opposed to our 
substantial happiness and comfort. 

Before we quit the subject of habits of art, we may 
just glance at two of them, which are required to a 
much greater extent in the present day than at any 
former period of man’s history —composition and 
public speaking. Persons who have no intention to 
rank either as authors or as orators are often obliged 
to express themselves in writing, beyond the limits of 
familiar correspondence; and in speech, beyond those of 
common conversation. Hence it is become more than 
ever necessary that young people should be taught to 
compose not only grammatically, but with facility, 
force, and clearness ; and our boys will be the better 
fitted for much of the business of life, if they are 
accustomed, under judicious care , to speak on prac¬ 
tical subjects, in an easy and perspicuous manner. In 
both these respects, however, we must be careful to 
impress upon young people the value of modesty and 
simplicity. Neither reason nor religion gives any 
quarter to self-conceit; and the world is much too 
busy patiently to bear with flourishes either in speech 
or writing. 1 

1 “ Nihil potest placere quod non decet —Nothing can please 
which does not suit the occasion Quintil. de Instit. Oral, lib, i, 11. 


SECTION IV. 


On Good Habits of Intellect. 

Every one knows that to impart knowledge to our 
children is a principal concern in the intellectual part 
of education ; and no one who has been accustomed to 
the care of the young can fail to be aware that their 
capacities for receiving it are exceedingly various. 
The supply of information provided by the tutor 
ought certainly to be sufficient to meet that fair de¬ 
mand for intellectual light which arises from the 
general progress of knowledge in the world; nor 
ought it to fall very short of the mental capacity of 
the pupil; yet it is surely a prevalent error in the 
present day to grasp at a great variety of knowledge 
in the education of our children—to diffuse our school¬ 
room teaching over a very wide and diversified surface. 

Attempts of this description offend against the 
general principle, that education is in its nature pro¬ 
spective. Vain, for the most part, must be the 
teacher’s effort to convert our children into men and 
women, and to impart to them that measure and scope 
of knowledge which belong to maturity ; but when 
not vain, such an effort is far from being harmless. 
Just in proportion as we partially succeed in it, are 
we in danger of marring the mental constitution of 
the child, and of forcing a blossom which will soon 
prove itself barren. It is never to be forgotten that our 


GOOD HABITS OP INTELLECT. 


129 


grand object in cultivating the intellects of children 
is to fix in them those habits of investigation and study 
which lie at the root of learning—habits of which 
they may afterwards avail themselves in ranging 
through many a field of literature and science. 

On this ground I cannot entirely agree in the 
opinion of those persons who complain of the hours 
in each passing day, which are devoted, in most of our 
schools, to Latin and Greek. True, indeed, it is, that 
a number of modern languages, and various branches 
of philosophy and science, appear at first sight to 
present superior claims in point of utility; but I 
believe that no man who has imbibed, at school, an 
accurate knowledge of Latin and Greek, will regret 
the hours which have been devoted to the pursuit. 
Not only will he find the polish of classical literature 
a real advantage, and its treasures worth enjoying— 
not only will his acquaintance with these languages 
facilitate the acquirement of others—but the habits of 
study which he has obtained in the pursuit will have 
given him a mastery over learning which he will 
afterwards find it easy to apply to any of its depart¬ 
ments. 

There is, however, another principle against which 
this diffusive system offends; it is, that a little know¬ 
ledge of an exact and perfect character is more valu¬ 
able, for practical purposes, than much superficial 
learning. We mostly find that success in the world, 
and particularly in the walks of literature, depends 
upon a deep and accurate acquaintance with some 
particular object of pursuit or inquiry, far more than 

K 


130 


GOOD HABITS 


on extent and variety. By too widely spreading our 
efforts, we are very sure to hinder our progress. 

It is essential that our children should he early 
instructed in the all-important lesson of learning what 
they do learn, well. If we sacrifice this object to a 
mere spread of information, we shall inflict an injury 
on their minds which, in all probability, will be found 
incurable. A child who from day to day is allowed 
to be inaccurate and superficial in construing his Latin 
lesson, will be prone to act in the same manner with 
respect to the other branches of his learning, and his 
carelessness will even extend to his play. But these 
are only the smaller parts of the mischief. The bad 
habit of inaccuracy once formed will infect his mode 
of conversing, undermine his attention to truth, and 
weaken him in his moral duties; nay, it will follow 
him to the place of public worship, and mar the early 
fruits of his religion and piety. 

The principle, that whatsoever children learn, they 
should learn exactly , is of equal importance whether 
their lessons be addressed to the memory or to the 
understanding. If the business in hand is to learn by 
rote a passage in the Latin grammar, or the declen¬ 
sions of a Greek verb, that business ought not to he 
passed over until it is perfectly accomplished. The 
memory must not be oppressed by too large a demand 
upon its powers; but the short and easy lesson must 
he so learned, as to be repeated without a fault and 
without difficulty. If, on the other hand, the tutor’s 
object is to explain a rule in grammar, he must 
take care so to handle the subject, as to leave the 


OP INTELLECT. 


131 


understanding of his pupil in a condition of perfect 
clearness. 

I am far from asserting that children ought never to 
learn by rote, what they do not at present fully under¬ 
stand. The memory may be sometimes profitably 
taxed, by way of adding to the materials which we 
shall afterwards bring to bear on the understanding; 
and in such a case a faultless repetition of the lesson 
will answer the general principle already laid down, 
that whatsoever the child learns, he is to learn exactly; 
but, whensoever in our teaching we address ourselves 
to the intellect, we must take good care never to take 
a second step, until the first is effectually gained. 1 

I believe that this exact method of dealing with the 
understandings of children is very much practised in 
Scotland. “ You Scotchmen,” said a man of genius, 
to one of the professors of the University of Edin¬ 
burgh, “ are so fond of going round a thought, and 
round a thought, till you understand it all so precisely 
—for my part I love to see a subject illuminated 
through a mist.” The formation of such a taste as 
this person professed, ought to be carefully avoided in 
the education of children. To accustom them to the 
clearing away of the mist from every subject which 
they are required to understand, is absolutely essential 
to their proficiency in learning, and even to their 
solidity in character. Such is the natural tendency of 
children to be superficial, that we need have no fears 

1 “ Nec ad ullius rei summara nisi precedentibus iniliis per- 
veniri. —There is no reaching the top of anything without treading 
the first steps which lead to it:” Quintil. de Instit. Or at. Procem. 

K 2 


132 


GOOD HABITS 


in adopting the Scottish method. By a variety of 
statements, all leading to the same point, and above 
all by apt and lively illustration, we must gently con¬ 
strain them to “go round a thought, and round a 
thought,” until it is entirely and accurately their own. 
Thus shall we possess ourselves of safe and solid ground, 
on which to place our forces for the next attempt. 

The efforts of the tutor will however be all in vain, 
unless he obtains attention on the part of the pupil; 
and this is a point which will generally be found to 
depend on his own method of instruction. A man 
may teach in such a manner as almost to compel the 
most orderly child to be inattentive to his teaching ; 
and his failure will only be made worse and worse, by 
his perpetual complaints against a fault which he has 
himself produced. The precept, the exclamation, the 
groan of impatience, will fall on the ear, and on the 
mind of the child, with less and less force, just in pro¬ 
portion as they are often repeated; and the result will 
be a total failure. But let the teacher secure, as his 
allies, the curiosity, the taste, and the natural ardour 
of children—let him play upon their minds, as a man 
plays on an instrument—let him make them feel the 
pleasure of conceiving a clear idea—and there will be 
few among them so dull and careless as to refuse him 
an open and intelligent ear. 

Whatsoever method,however, we findit bestto pursue 
for the purpose, it is absolutely essential to our success in 
the education of children, that we should fix in their 
minds the habit of attention. The absent and wander- 


OF INTELLECT. 


133 


ing mind, the listening to what is read or spoken only 
in parts or patches, the indolent vacuity of thought 
when something is in hand to he learned, the division 
of the mind between two or more contemporary objects 
of pursuit—must all be carefully discouraged, and, if 
possible, put to flight. 

When an eminent person, remarkable for his achieve¬ 
ments in science, eloquence, and business, was asked 
by what means he was enabled to effect so much, he 
answered, “ By being a whole man to one thing at a 
time.” This is an expedient to which our young 
people ought to be familiarised even from their child¬ 
hood. If their attention be scattered and divided, 
nothing will be learnt effectually, or executed well; 
but if they put forth their native energy to each object 
in succession—if they bestow their whole minds, first 
(for example) on their Scripture reading, secondly, on 
their classical lesson, thirdly, on their arithmetic or 
geometry, and fourthly, on their game of trap-ball or 
cricket, every thing in its turn will be mastered; and 
by the whole process, the mind itself will be greatly 
strengthened. 

A second rule which this person mentioned as having 
been of great use to himself, was never to lose the 
passing opportunity —a rule which, like the former, is 
closely connected with the faculty of attention. Our 
young people should be taught to be always alive to 
the circumstances which surround them; and in the 
only good and happy sense of the term, to be time - 
servers. It is desirable that they should be observant 
not only of their books, but of all things not sinful 


134 


GOOD HABITS 


which meet their perception, in the passing scenery of 
life. By this means they will greatly increase their 
store of knowledge, and will be gradually prepared for 
usefulness in their day and generation. 

The well known tale of the two lads who took the 
same walk in succession, the one seeing nothing, the 
other every thing, affords an apt illustration of the 
advantage of an observing eye, and of the blank occa¬ 
sioned by its absence. In an especial manner ought 
our children to be led, both by precept and example, to 
be attentive readers of the book of nature; to delight 
in her charms, to examine her wonders; to investigate 
even for their amusement, her animal, vegetable, and 
mineral kingdoms, and to trace the hand of God in 
everything. 

There can be no doubt that there exist among 
children, as well as adults, constitutional differences, 
with respect to the powers of memory. The memory 
is affected by the condition of the brain; and the fact 
that one man can remember a whole discourse to which 
he has been listening, while another who has also heard 
it, can scarcely recall even its liveliest passages, may 
probably arise, to a certain extent, from difference of 
structure. But who does not know that the faculty 
of memory is capable of being cultivated, and that as a 
general rule, it is found to be true among children, that 
as is their attention to any thing, so is their remembrance 
of it. If a child has a lesson to get by heart, the 
facility with which he performs the task, mainly depends 
on the exclusion of roving thoughts, and on the resolute 


OF INTELLECT. 


135 


bending of bis inind to the single object before him; 
and his power of afterwards recollecting what he has 
once committed to memory, may either be weakened 
by disuse, or strengthened by habitual exercise. 

I once knew an aged prelate, remarkable for a lively 
and unclouded mind, whose stores of literature appeared 
to be always at his command. With the utmost facility, 
as occasion required it, yet without any appearance 
of pedantry, did he quote his favourite passages from 
Sophocles or Pindar, from Horace or Tacitus, from the 
best English poets, from Milton’s prose works, or even 
from such authors as Erasmus and Grotius. It was 
easy and perhaps not unfair to ascribe to this individual, 
a structure of brain peculiarly fitted for memory; yet 
his friends were instructed by knowing that he owed 
the treasures of his age, mainly to the habits of his 
youth. When he was a boy at Winchester school, he 
undertook to commit to memory, within no very longf 
period of time, twelve books of Homer’s Iliad, six books 
of Virgil’s JEneid, and several of Cicero’s philosophical 
treatises. So completely did he succeed in the attempt, 
that at the expiration of the appointed time no dodging 
could puzzle him. On the repetition of any one line or 
sentence in any of these writings, he could immediately 
repeat the next. Who can doubt that he triumphed 
over his prodigious task by the resolute and habitual 
application of his undivided powers ? 

A faithful remembrance and ready recollection of 
things , are, of course, much more important than the 
memory of words; and are sometimes conspicuous in 
young people, who appear to have but little capacity 


136 


GOOD HABITS 


for what is called getting by heart. Here, again, there 
is a close connection between attention and remem¬ 
brance. The more intensely we apply our minds to 
every particular which is added to our store of know¬ 
ledge, the more it will be impressed upon our memory, 
and the more ready we shall be in recollecting it. In 
all such instances, however, the exercise of the memory 
very much depends on that of the understanding; the 
former will generally be retentive in proportion as the 
latter is clear. Present a certain fact or proposition— 
some new point of knowledge—to a pupil; engage his 
whole mind in the subject, though it be only for a short 
time; and take care that his understanding of it be 
full and precise, the idea will then assume a definite 
shape ; and will seldom fail to deposit itself in the 
memory—ready to be recalled and fit for use, as occa¬ 
sion may require it. 

In order to be a whole man to one thing at a time, 
we must learn to exercise another useful habit—that 
of breaking our trains of thought, and of turning with 
ease from one subject of pursuit or study to another. 
This is a faculty for the use of which the rapid course 
of this busy world is apt to make a large demand upon 
us; and for the formation of which in the young mind, 
that little world, a school, or even a system of private 
tuition, affords abundant opportunities. The minds of 
children are naturally versatile, and may, with little 
difficulty, be directed to various objects in succession. 
A spirited teacher, whose own mind is pliable enough 
for the purpose, may effect these transitions in the 


OF INTELLECT. 


137 


pursuits of his pupils with wonderful celerity—like the 
skilful mariner who shifts his sails, in tacking from 
point to point, with scarcely any impediment to the 
progress of the vessel. The variety of pursuit will, in 
fact, serve the purpose of recreation; especially if the 
harder and easier lessons are introduced alternately. 1 

Those who know the pain of being haunted by 
thoughts which belong to some past unpleasantness, 
and have no connection with present duty, will feel 
the importance of accustoming their pupils to an easy 
breaking of their trains. They will be the first to 
appreciate that mental discipline, by which young per¬ 
sons may gain the happy art of turning their minds, 
without loss of time, from one object to another. One 
cannot but admire the prowess of a celebrated author, 
who, as it is said, wrote history one hour, belles lettres 
a second, and poetry a third; played with his children 
a fourth, and then wrote history again; and moreover 
performed all these functions with vigour and success. 

Yet it must never be forgotten, that no men are so 
great in literature, in science, or in philanthropy, as 
those who, while they give a fair attention to that vast 
diversity of objects, with which the world around them 
teems, have selected a leading one as peculiarly their 
own, and pursue it with undeviating determination, 
and ever recurring care and interest. A capacity for 
such selection, and such resolution, is indeed partly of 
a moral character; for it never fails to be connected 

1 “ Adeo facilius est multa facere quam diu .—So much easier is 
it to do many things, than to be long at work about one:” Quintil. ds 
Instit. Or at. lib. i, 12. 


138 


GOOD HABITS 


with a disposition to decide and to persevere. But it 
is also partly intellectual, requiring first, a clear sight 
of the point before us; and secondly, that noble faculty 
of concentrating the mental powers, without which no 
man has ever occupied a truly elevated place in the 
rational world. This faculty of the intellect, as well 
as the moral qualities just alluded to, have been remark¬ 
ably displayed in their several and distinct pursuits, 
by a Galileo, a Newton, a Milton, a Porson, a Howard, 
and a Clarkson. 

When the late Sir James Mackintosh was visiting 
the school for the deaf and dumb, at Paris, then under 
the care of the Abbe Sicard, he is said to have addressed 
this question, in writing, to one of the pupils—“ Doth 
God reason?” The pupil for a short time appeared to 
be distressed and confused, but presently wrote on his 
slate the following answer:—“ To reason is to hesitate, 
to doubt, to inquire—it is the highest attribute of a 
limited intelligence. God sees all things, foresees all 
things, knows all things; therefore God doth not reason.” 
True, indeed, it is, that the Omniscient Being who 
knows the beginning and the end, the cause and the 
consequence of all things, can scarcely be conceived to 
exercise a power of which the sole object is to investi¬ 
gate truth; but He has graciously bestowed this power 
upon man, and we are unquestionably accountable to 
Him for a diligent and fruitful use of it. How essential 
then, in the education of children, to cultivate their 
reasoning faculty, to teach them to mark its true limits 
and rightful application, and to imbue them with the 


OF INTELLECT. 


139 


habit of using it well! If we would impart stability 
to their knowledge, and raise them to their right place 
in the scale of intellectual beings, we must not only 
furnish them with information which they may take on 
trust, but accustom them, as far as may be, to find out 
truth for themselves. 

By reasoning , however, I must not be understood as 
meaning the logic of the schools, which was productive 
of scarcely any other fruit than a useless war of words; 
I mean the application of our reason to all the objects 
of perception and thought; and especially that mental 
process so perpetually required of every man, by which 
we inquire into causes and consequences , and draw our 
conclusions , or form our judgment of things , from the 
premises before us. 

In this comprehensive sense of the term, reason is 
either inductive or deductive; it proceeds either up¬ 
wards or downwards. Inductive reasoning commences 
with the observation of facts, and pursues its inquiries 
from effects to causes; its constant aim is to ascend 
from step to step, until it arrives at an original cause, 
or a general law. Deductive reasoning begins either 
with a granted truth, or with a supposition, and descends 
from consequence to consequence, until it reaches that 
particular result which is the object of its search. 

Both these kinds of reasoning are of great import¬ 
ance to the cause of science and truth, and find their 
way into numberless particulars in philosophy and 
learning. Take as a familiar example, a boy at school, 
composing a sentence in his Latin exercises; he as¬ 
sumes the rules at the top of his page, deduces his 


i40 


GOOD HABITS 


consequences, applies these consequences to the series 
of words before him, and moulds the sentence into its 
proper shape. But let him parse what he has written, 
and he forthwith begins to reason in an opposite direc¬ 
tion : the conditions of the several words are now to be 
regarded as effects, which he must trace to their 
causes, and by an inductive method he is soon brought 
back to their simplest forms, and to the rules from 
which he started. 1 

Mathematics, which afford the clearest examples of 
deductive reasoning, are, in their operation, at once 
perfect and limited. For example, in geometry, if 
the theorem be worked accurately, the result will be 
an infallible certainty; yet the truth at which we thus 
arrive, has nothing original or independent in its 
nature; it has respect only to the supposition on 
which the whole chain of reasoning depends. A 
similar remark applies to arithmetic, and to every 
other species of mathematical calculation. If our 
calculation be exact, and according to rule, our con¬ 
clusion will be perfectly true; yet it can never be a 
general truth; it will in all cases be limited by the 
datum, with which our process commences. 

To habituate young people to mathematical demon¬ 
stration, and to the methods by which it is obtained, 
is obviously a desirable point in education. It can 

1 The pupil accepts the rules on the authority of his book of 
grammar, which for him is all-sufficient; hut the grammarian who 
invented them, could have done so only by a like inductive method 
of reasoning, founded on a similar though more extensive observa¬ 
tion of facts. 


OF INTELLECT. 


141 


scarcely fail to invigorate their mental powers; to 
impress them with the beauty and excellence of an 
exact inquiry after truth; and to teach them a general 
lesson of precision, in drawing conclusions from pre¬ 
mises ; more especially, as their understandings ripen, 
they will find it a noble exercise of mind, to apply 
their mathematics to astronomy or optics, and to obtain 
a proof for themselves of the wondrous coincidence 
between the result of man’s calculations, and the actual 
phenomena of visible nature. Yet it is surely our 
duty to explain to our pupils the limitations as well 
as the perfection of mathematical science, to show 
them its right province, and to make them thoroughly 
understand that it is, from its very nature, utterly 
inapplicable to many important branches of the in¬ 
quiry after truth . Who expects mathematical demon¬ 
stration in chemistry or geology ? And where would 
be the triumphs of astronomy itself, had not Newton 
arrived, by observation and inductive reasoning, at a 
knowledge of those laws of gravitation which are now 
taken for granted in every astronomical calculation ? 

Whewell, in his Bridgewater Treatise, has satisfac¬ 
torily shown that the great inductive philosophers, the 
original discoverers of the laws of nature, have been 
found universally believers in God; and no wonder; 
for in their researches into nature, their faces are as it 
were turned towards the Creator, and they find it 
impossible to stop short of the first great cause. On 
the other hand, deductive philosophers, who are con¬ 
stantly engaged in arguing downwards from laws 
already discovered, have sometimes been found to for- 


142 


GOOD HABITS 


get that Almighty Being, who appears in one sense 
to be thrown into greater and greater distance, as they 
proceed in their inquiries. Nature's law is the beam 
upon which the whole chain of their reasoning is sus¬ 
pended, and by an habitual reliance on this alone, 
some of them have come at last to entertain the mon¬ 
strous conception, that this beam is self-existent and 
supported by nothing . 

One would think that this danger, in deductive 
philosophy, might be easily averted by the watchful 
and judicious teacher. In the mean time it is ob¬ 
viously important that young people should be well 
imbued with the principles of inductive reasoning. 
Although we may have no wish to make them great 
philosophers, we should give them a clear view of 
those several steps, which are essential to a successful 
inquiry into the secrets of nature. The first is to 
examine facts, on a large scale, and with minute 
attention; the second is to analyze these facts with 
accuracy, and to reduce them to their simplest form; 
and the third to draw general conclusions from them 
with caution and precision. This is the method by 
which every right-minded inquirer into the laws of 
nature pursues his interesting course; and such an one 
will not fail to rise from cause to cause, until his un¬ 
derstanding rests in God, as the Father of all things. 

It is well that young people should be aware of the 
distinction between formal and final causes. The 
formal cause of a thing is that by which the effect is 
produced; the final cause is its purpose, the object at 
which its author aims. Time was, when philosophers 


OF INTELLECT. 


143 


paid such an exclusive attention to final causes, that 
the proper business of inductive science was impeded 
c prevented. That business is to trace the natural 
eh < t to the natural cause. The latter must then be 
regarded as an effect, the cause of which must be 
investigated in its turn ; and this process may be 
safely continued until we approach, as near as our 
faculties will permit, to the simplest constituents and 
operations of nature. In the meantime, however, the 
observation of final causes—that is, of the fitting of 
means to ends—ought to occupy its own place in our 
minds, and to accompany us on our whole journey in 
the pursuit of physical truth. Thus, while the induc¬ 
tive process is infallibly leading us upwards to the 
First Great Cause, we shall be instructed as we pro¬ 
ceed by a countless multitude of collateral proofs of 
his existence, his wisdom, and his goodness. 

But science is by no means the only field for the 
exercise of inductive reasoning ; there is a moral as 
well as a physical world, to which it may be applied 
with excellent effect. What else is it, for example, 
which enables us to form a judgment, upon evidence, 
of the truth of any alleged fact ? 

To watch the proceedings which take place in. 
courts of justice may often afford our young people a 
valuable lesson. A man is tried for a felony; several 
of his neighbours come forward on the occasion, who 
witnessed a number of circumstances with which the 
crime was connected. Their character is unexception¬ 
able; and while the little varieties which appear in 
their statements plainly shew that their testimony was 


144 


GOOD HABITS 


not concerted, their general accordance, and the man¬ 
ner in which their stories intersect one another, without 
contradiction, afford abundant evidence that they have 
told the truth. Their testimonies, considered sepa¬ 
rately, and the agreement of the whole, are so many 
facts or phenomena before the court; and from these 
the judge justly infers the reality of the circumstances 
to which they have deposed. He then analyzes and 
compares these circumstances, considers their causes, 
and traces them upwards to that which can alone 
account for them—the guilt of the criminal. But 
now other witnesses come forward of equally good 
character, who were present when the crime was per-> 
petrated. Their evidences, like those of the former 
witnesses, tally one with another in the most natural 
manner. From all quarters, direct and indirect, the 
rays of light are reflected on the crime of the prisoner, 
and there meet in a focus. The judge is perfectly 
satisfied, and directs the jury to find him guilty. 

Who does not perceive that the conclusion, in such 
a case, although derived only from testimony and other 
moral evidence, is just as certain as the clear results 
of physical science ? Nay, as a ground of action, it is 
evidently regarded as equivalent to mathematical proof 
—even life is sacrificed to it without hesitation! 

Now let us suppose that the jury, in spite of this 
conclusive evidence and the consequent recommenda¬ 
tion of the judge, should acquit the prisoner, and 
plead, as their excuse, that they cannot be responsible 
for their belief; would there not be a general burst of 
indignation ? All the world would conclude either 


OF INTELLECT. 


145 


that they had neglected to listen to the evidence, or 
were prejudiced against the witnesses, or had har¬ 
boured an immoral bias in favour of the prisoner or of 
his crime. 

How vain then is the same excuse, when pleaded 
for want of faith in the truth of Christianity ! Cer¬ 
tainly we cannot furnish our young people with a 
more delightful exercise of their inductive reasoning 
than in weighing the evidences which prove its truth. 

Let them well understand the method by which the 
Christian advocate traces the evidence of written 
tradition backward from age to age, until he arrives at 
the genuineness of the New Testament. Let them 
next be led to examine the writers of that volume as 
so many witnesses ; let them analyze and compare 
their testimony; let them observe the petty apparent 
differences which indicate the independence of these 
authors, and the substantial accordance, and more 
especially the curious fitting in, of oblique coincidences , 
which prove their histories to be authentic; let them 
take into view the moral character of the evangelists 
and apostles ; let them examine the collateral testi¬ 
mony of heathen writers; finally, let them dwell on 
those past and present facts—such, for example, as the 
early diffusion of Christianity, and the use among 
Christians of the first day of the week as their Sab¬ 
bath—for which it is impossible to account but by the 
truth of the Gospel history—and they will be brought 
bach to the miracles and resurrection of Jesus, and be 
as sure of the reality of these events as if they had 
themselves beheld them. Nor can they stop here. 


146 


GOOD HABITS 


From these signal interruptions in the order of nature 
they will reason upwards to the power of Him who 
could alone have caused them. And what is the con¬ 
clusion ? That Christianity comes from God, and 
bears the unalterable stamp of his authority. 

By another process of the same nature and of equal 
extent, our young people may be taught to trace the 
genuineness of the prophecies, and to examine the his¬ 
torical facts by which they have been fulfilled. From 
the wondrous agreement between the two, they will 
be constrained to infer, as a cause, the inspiration of 
the prophets; and from this they will again conclude 
that our religion is of divine origin. Now both these 
trains of reasoning are checked and confirmed by inter¬ 
nal evidence. The religion which is thus attested by 
miracles and prophecy, is fitted with perfect exactness 
to the spiritual wants of mankind; it is on the side of 
integrity, purity, and peace; it abounds in the fruits of 
righteousness; its main characteristic is love. To 
whom, then, can they ascribe it, but to Him, whom 
nature and providence have already proclaimed to be 
not only almighty, but wise, holy, and beneficent? In 
cultivating the reasoning powers of our children, we 
must teach them, above every thing, to look towards 
God. They must be carefully instructed that true 
philosophy, both in physics and morals, will infallibly 
lead them upwards, step by step, to that “ High and 
Holy one who inhabiteth eternity”—who fills, directs, 
and governs all things. 

The habit of reflection is one in which the reasoning 


OF INTELLECT. 


147 


powers are often called into useful exercise. To digest 
what we have seen or read, and thus to obtain distinct 
ideas; to recall and compare other ideas of a similar 
nature; to collect our thoughts into a focus; to infer 
causes or deduce consequences in the secret of our 
own minds; and finally to form a clear judgment on 
the matters which pass in succession before us—is the 
surest road to intellectual wisdom. 

“ Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, 

Have oft-times no connection. Knowledge dwells 
In heads replete with thoughts of other men; 

Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.” 

Cowper. 

To meditate deeply and think with effect is at once 
the most laborious 1 and important part of study; and 
there can be no greater error committed in education, 
than to sacrifice the opportunities of this exercise of 
mind to a system of unnatural stimulants and rapid 
execution. Our children should be made to understand 
that to read without reflection—to fly over their pages 
—is one of the idlest of amusements; and that even a 
quick proficiency in learning is of far less value than 
a stock of well-digested ideas, and a sound and solid 
judgment. 

In order to obtain these ends young people will find 
it a useful practice to make notes of what they read, 
and even to commit to paper the thoughts which their 
reading suggests to them. This practice, which habit 

1 “Porro ut frequenter experti sumus, minus afficit sensus fati- 
gatio quam cogitatio.— Moreover, as I have ojten found, thinking 
exhausts our feelings more than fagging ’ Quintil. de Instit. Or at. 
lib. i, 12. 


148 


GOOD HABITS 


will soon render easy and pleasant, will check the 
roving indolence of their minds. It will oblige them to 
think properly, in order that they may write intelligibly . 1 

The habit of mind, which enables young people to 
embrace comprehensive views, and to form sound judg¬ 
ments on the subjects of their study, will be required 
of them for practical purposes, on manifold occasions 
of life. We ought to teach them that no two characters 
are more in contrast in the world than that of a man 
who is prone to entertain hasty and partial notions of 
a subject, and that of another man whose thoughts 
extend over a wide range, and who examines and deli¬ 
berates before he decides. The great enemies of a 
sound judgment are prejudice and passion: and until 
we are rid of these foes, our intellect will never bear 
on the objects of our attention with its proper effect. 
How important, then, must it be, to train up our chil¬ 
dren in the habit of impartiality on the one hand, and 
of coolness and sobriety on the other! There is surely 
no capacity of the human understanding so valuable for 
the purposes of the present life, as that of taking just 
and enlightened views of the circumstances in which we 
are placed, so that we may order our actions wisely , 

The faculty of wit seems to lie in that mastery over 
the mental associations, which enables a man to seize 
on ideas widely different from each other, to bring 

1 “In studiis praecipuum, quoque solo verus ille profectus et 
altis radicibus nixus paretur, scribere ipsum.— Writing for oneself 
is a point , in study, of principal importance; the only means by 
which we can obtain a true and deeply-rooted proficiency in learn¬ 
ing Quiritil. de Instit. Or at. lib. i, 1. 


OP INTELLECT. 


149 


tliem suddenly into contact, and to display some extra¬ 
ordinary coincidence between them. Thus it appears 
that the effect of true wit is to excite surprise as well 
as to produce laughter. This brilliant faculty, though 
somewhat rare, is habitual in some persons. The con¬ 
versation of the late William Wilberforce was often 
enlivened by flashes of this description ; but they were 
chaste as well as vivid, and wounded no man. It does 
not appear to be required of the Christian educator to 
nip in the bud that ready wit for which even the 
young are sometimes remarkable ; nor will he frown 
at those playful touches of humour —a faculty distinct 
from that of wit—which often diffuse a smile over the 
fireside circle. Yet these peculiar powers generally 
require to be checked, rather than fostered. No sooner 
do they run into excess than they become injurious. 
When wit is pointed into satire, and humour lowered 
into ridicule, they will no longer be tolerated by the 
teacher or parent who aims at nothing so earnestly, in 
his pupils, as the improvement of the heart 

Nearly allied to wit is that fertile fancy which 
enables some persons to adorn the subjects on which 
they write or speak, by images or illustrations drawn 
from natural objects or from common life. Such a 
fancy becomes active by habit, and will be found (as 
we have already hinted) a useful ally in the art of 
teaching ; nor ought we to neglect the cultivation of it 
in young people themselves, because in after-life it will 
afford them a certain sort of power over the minds of 
other men, which they may apply to beneficial pur¬ 
poses. It must, however, be remembered, that illus- 


150 


GOOD HABITS 


tration is never to be employed instead of proof; that 
its sole purpose is to make an argument clear ; and 
that for this purpose, it ought always to be borrowed 
from something more easy and familiar to the mind, 
than the subject which we wish to illustrate. 

Imagination is a faculty which operates to a far 
wider extent than wit or fancy. It ranges over every 
thing which we have perceived and known, and which 
memory is able to recall; selects those particulars which 
please it best, and then by a magic art combines them 
into new forms ; or, to the true picture of some exist¬ 
ing object, presented to the mind by conception , it will 
add some borrowed radiance, or some ideal horror, 
which imparts to it a character above or beyond its own. 

We have already found occasion to observe the 
melancholy effects of the abuses of imagination. Yet 
there can be no question that it is bestowed upon 
mankind for wise and benevolent purposes. A child 
without imagination is a phlegmatic creature—difficult 
to be impressed; and it will be found a much easier 
task to educate his brother, in whom this faculty is 
somewhat excessive. A teacher may, in such a case, 
say with Quintillian, “ Des quod amputem—Give me 
something to cut off .” 1 


1 “ Vitium utrumque; pejus tamen illud quod ex inopia, quam 
quod ex copia venit.— Each of the two things is a fault; hut that 
which arises from want, is worse than that which is produced by 
plenty .” “Facile remedium est ubertatis: sterilia nullo labore 
vincuntur.— The remedy for luxuriance is easy; but barren soils are 
overcome by no labour Instit. Orat. lib. ii, 4. This author was 
well aware of the detersive qualities of true learning. “ Nihilomi- 
nus confitendum est etiam detrahere doctrinam aliquid, ut liman 


OF INTELLECT. 


151 


Imagination may come to the aid of virtue as well 
as of vice. Dugald Stewart supposes two persons in 
succession, to be introduced to some child of affliction 
and sorrow. They both see the same person and hear 
the same tale ; but while the one draws no picture of 
his neighbour’s unseen distress, the other, with his 
mind’s eye, visits, in a moment, the wretched hovel, 
the bed of straw, the sick wife, the famished children. 
There can be no doubt which of the two will be likely 
to exercise the greater liberality. 

The parable of the prodigal son, which has been 
productive of many a tear of penitence arid love, is an 
appeal made by our Lord himself to the best feelings 
of the heart, through the medium of the imagination. 
And is it not the same faculty of which the sacred 
writers avail themselves, when they present to us a 
picture of all visible glorious things, in order to imbue 
us with some faint idea of the inconceivable glory of 
heaven ? 

Many of our Lord’s discourses afford an evidence 
that is neither unlawful, nor undesirable, within certain 
limits, to make use of unreal narratives in order to 
convey, in a pleasing and intelligible form, the lessons 
of truth. Yet it must be confessed that a method of 

rudibus, et cotes hebetbus, et vino vetustatem; sed vitia detrahit, 
atque eo solo minus est quod liter® perpolierunt, quo melius.— 
Nevertheless it must he confessed, that learning takes away something ; 
as the file does from rough things, and wetting stones from blunt things, 
and age from wine: but it removes only faults: what literature has 
thoroughly polished, is less by that alone, through the loss of which it 
is better Idem, lib. ii, 12. 


152 


GOOD HABITS 


instruction which by Him was adorned with delightful 
simplicity, and applied with unrivalled force, is in 
merely human hands prone to degenerate. Is there not 
reason to believe that the advantage derived from the 
moral of many a well-intended tale, is overbalanced, in 
the minds of children, by the mischiefs of false colour¬ 
ing and undue excitement ? 

As our children advance in life, they may be 
tempted to indulge themselves in the perusal of novels, 
those lengthened and highly-wrought fictions which fill 
our circulating libraries, and which for so many years 
past have been poured like a deluge on the British 
public. From such temptation we ought most care¬ 
fully to guard them; for, independently of the direct 
evil which many of these works contain, there is 
nothing more likely to unfit a young person for the 
duties and even the pleasures of common life, than the 
habit of living, by means of novel reading, in the 
highly-painted scenes of an ideal world . 1 

The best and most harmless method of cultivating 
the imagination in children, is to bring them to an 
acquaintance with the most eminent and unexception¬ 
able poets, and to lead them to admire the beauties 


1 I am aware that some persons, even of a serious cast, would 
make an exception in favour of a large set of semi-historical novels, 
which have of late years much occupied the attention of the public. 
It is sometimes said that these works may serve the purpose of 
undermining the public taste for the more wretched and sickly 
productions of the same class; yet what young person is likely to 
be the better for spending his precious time in the perusal of a 
multitude of volumes which falsify history, and hold up a very 
imperfect standard both in religion and morals ? 


OF INTELLECT. 


153 


with which their works abound. For example, Milton, 
Young. Montgomery, and above all, Cowper, afford us 
a delightful scope; but while we avail ourselves of 
these various resources, we must not forget to show to 
our children that there is no poetry so sublime and 
beautiful as the songs of inspiration—the poetry of 
Moses, David, and the prophets. 

In our attempts to cultivate the imagination of young 
people, we must carefully endeavour to chasten and 
refine it, and to give it a right direction. After all, 
however, the chief lesson which we shall find it 
necessary to teach them in reference to this subject, is 
to subject and regulate this restless faculty, which, if 
let loose, will be sure to expose them to innumerable 
disadvantages. 

Some of these are of a spiritual and moral nature. 
An imagination which spurns control, is the sure ally 
of superstition; it mars the simplicity of faith, it 
interferes with sobriety in conduct, it heightens the 
glare of vice, and gilds the baits of Satan. Others of 
its evil consequences relate, more particularly, to the 
understanding. 

By its delusive pictures and false colouring, it 
seduces many a wanderer from the steady pursuit of 
knowledge; and it is the worst of enemies to that 
sober and intelligent apprehension of persons and 
things, which we usually denominate Common Sense. 
On the contrary, this latter quality of the understand¬ 
ing deals with men and circumstances as they are. 
It neither exaggerates the evil which is in them, nor 
clothes them with a radiance foreign from their nature 


154 


GOOD HABITS OF INTELLECT. 


and character. It builds no " castles in the air,” but 
is conversant with the common affairs and practices of 
life, and forms a reasonable estimate of their uses and 
consequences. It is neither despondent nor sanguine 
in its expectations of the future; but while it takes a 
calm view of that which is to come, it is chiefly 
engaged in a sober dealing with the realities of the 
present hour. This solid quality is of great value, in 
a world of change and perplexity, and like other 
faculties of the human mind, may become habitual 
through training and practice. Yet even a large en¬ 
dowment of common sense will be of little permanent 
avail, if we are not guided and governed by that 
divine influence which can alone sanctify all our intel¬ 
lectual faculties, and elevate rational man to the station 
which he is intended to occupy both here and 
hereafter. 

It appears, then, that the intellect, like every other 
part of man’s constitution, owns the sway of custom , 
that magistrate of all our powers : and that the strength 
and usefulness of our mental faculties depend on their 
being constantly exercised—on right principles and in 
right directions. 

Those who have been accustomed, from early life, 
to prefer accuracy of knowledge to quantity, and to 
learn whatsoever they do learn, well —who are practised 
in fixing their attention, and in being whole men to one 
thing at a time—who, while they neglect nothing that 
is “civil or useful in the creation,” are still found to 
concentrate their powers in the pursuit of some leading 
object—who reason with care and impartiality, whether 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


loo 


upwards to causes, or downwards to consequences— 
who reflect deeply, and think for a purpose—who are 
skilled in using and yet controlling the subtle faculty 
of imagination—who are trained, above all, in the 
daily and hourly exercise of a sound judgment and of 
common sense—such persons cannot fail to appreciate, 
from their own experience, the practical excellence of 
GOOD HABITS OF INTELLECT. 


SECTION Y. 

On Good Moral Habits. 

The moral nature of man has functions as distinct 
and clear as those of his intellect, and although the 
main object of these functions is to prepare him for 
eternity, and for that awful day when he must 
answer to the Judge of all the earth for the deeds 
done in the body, yet they are also intended to serve 
a most important purpose as it regards the present 
life. The right application of man’s moral faculty 
is indeed of far greater importance to his happiness 
in the world, and to the welfare of those around him, 
than that of his intellectual powers ; and under divine 
grace, it is equally the result of mental discipline and 
good habit . 

In treating of good moral habits, however, I shall 
begin with mores in the lowest sense of the word, 
and offer a few remarks on good manners. These 
are certamly of no small practical importance in 
the multiplied transactions and circumstances of this 



156 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


world, and ought to be carefully cultivated in young 
people; not only among the upper classes, but, so far 
as circumstances will allow, among those also who 
belong to the middle and lower walks of life. Rough 
and untutored manners are injurious, as well as dis¬ 
agreeable, wherever they are found; and the tendency 
to them in man, who by nature is truly “ like a wild 
ass’s colt,” may be easily counteracted in the supple 
days of youth, by judicious training. 

No man, whatever may be his station in the world, 
has any right to annoy those around him by unpolite¬ 
ness. It is due to society in all its relations, and in 
all its concentric circles, that we should be civil one 
to another. It is a great mistake to suppose that our 
least familiar friends and acquaintances, or those who 
are strangers to us, alone require at our hands the 
exercise of courtesy. This virtue, for virtue it is, must 
be carried into the nearest and most common domestic 
relations. Without formality, husbands ought to be 
'polite to their wives, wives to their husbands, parents 
to their children, children to their parents, servants to 
their masters, masters to their servants, and servants to 
' each other. This oiling of the wheels of life, so easily 
obtained, so pleasant when in use, is grievously want¬ 
ing in many a domestic circle ; and the absence of it is 
almost sure to be productive, in the end, of serious 
breaches of family love and harmony. 

In forming the manners of young people, we have, 
in the first and lowest place, to pay due attention 
to ease and propriety in the carriage and movements 
of the body. This is a subject to which we have 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


157 

already adverted. Closely connected with it, how¬ 
ever, is a point at least partly mental— shyness , or 
its reverse —a quiet self-possession. It is very anima¬ 
ting to see true modesty in young people, coupled, 
not with the bashful face hanging down upon the 
neck, but with the honest upright front, which fears 
not to meet the eye of the person addressing or 
addressed. I have often been pleased with the union 
of these advantages, in the schools of the United 
States of North America, in which there is an air 
of independence to be observed among the children, 
blended with civility, which has given me both 
pleasure and satisfaction. We should never fail to 
impress upon the young a sense of the true dignity of 
human nature. Their courtesy one to another, and to 
their elders and superiors, will not be diminished by 
its being stamped on their feelings, by some master 
hand, that “ an honest man is the noblest work of 
God and that it is their duty and privilege to respect 
themselves, and not unduly to fear any man. At the 
same time these feelings ought ever to be tempered 
with that genuine diffidence which ranges under the 
head of simplicity and humility—not of shyness. 

Another point of primary importance in the forma¬ 
tion of good manners is the cultivation of tact. A 
quick perception of that which is suitable , in our con¬ 
versation and demeanour, to the circumstances in which 
we are placed, and to the persons by whom we are 
surrounded, is an invaluable faculty, and materially 
facilitates our course through the world. It is one 
means of producing pleasure and of avoiding pain, both 


158 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


for ourselves and others. The degree of this capacity 
in some persons, may be compared to the feeling of a 
hard-skinned finger, and in others, to that of the 
tongue, which we all know is fraught with a most 
accurate sensitiveness to every thing which it touches. 
Yet this tongue-like sensitiveness has its dangers, and 
may lead, if we are not watchful, to a breach of 
propriety in another direction. It has need to be 
accompanied with the patience which bears and forbears, 
and with the charity which “ is not easily provoked.” 

Here we are brought to a third point, which lie3 at 
the very foundation of good manners—the subjection 
of self, and hearty Christian kindness. Benevolence 
is indeed the spring of true politeness ; and the apostle 
has excellently coupled these things together, as belong¬ 
ing to one category—“ Finally, be ye all of one mind, 
having compassion one of another; love as brethren, 
be pitiful, be courteous.” 1 

Next, in the order of our subject, comes another 
quality, without which we can never take a smooth or 
agreeable course through this often troublesome world, 
—I mean good temper. That temper partly depends 
on natural constitution cannot be questioned ; for in 
schools and families we find among children, even 
among infants, a marked diversity in this respect, 
which must, in great measure, be traced to the peculiar 
frame both of mind and body. But although nature 
lies at the root of every variety of temper, much, very 
much, may be effected by a judicious influence, train¬ 
ing, and habit, in the cultivation of an easy and 

1 1 Peter, iii, 8. 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


159 


amiable temperament, and in the suppression of sullen, 
obstinate, or irritable humours. 

These humours are like so many little demons, which 
haunt and beset the mind, and woe to that man over 
whom they so prevail, as to make him their permanent 
habitation ! Young people ought to be carefully 
taught that every time the enemy is yielded to, he 
becomes stronger ; and that whenever he is resisted ? 
his power is abated. After repeated defeats he will 
retire from the field, and leave the mind in that sound 
and peaceable condition, in which ability is experienced 
for every duty, and capacity for every rational and 
allowable pleasure. Let it ever be remembered that 
ill-tempers not only disturb the harmony of things 
below, but have a powerful tendency to prevent or mar 
the duties and exercises of religion. 

One remark remains to be offered on this subject. 
Although bad tempers partly arise from peculiar natu¬ 
ral constitutions, yet, when yielded to, they presently 
lead to actual breaches of the divine law, and thus 
become absolutely sinful. Now for the sinfulness of 
man, under any form, there is only one radical remedy 
—even the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let it be 
remembered, then, that grace is the proper cure for 
bad temper, and let this truth imbue all our educational 
efforts to subdue the evil in question. Let young 
persons be taught, when assailed by this temptation, 
to seek after retirement, and quietly to fix their souls 
on God their Father. His Holy Spirit will then gently 
move upon their minds, smooth down their asperities, 
and reduce the mountain waves to a calm level. The 


160 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


temper of Jesus was unruffled like that of the dove— 
blessed are they who follow in his footsteps. Yet this 
is no light or familiar business. A perfect cure of bad 
temper, as it is one of the most difficult, so is it often 
one of the latest triumphs of divine grace. 

At the same time, let no man mistake an amiable 
and kindly natural disposition for the saving work of 
grace. The good-natured and good-tempered among 
men require to be broken to pieces, and converted to 
God, like the rest of our species. Thus alone will 
the pride of their hearts be demolished, and their 
temper become not merely easy, but gracious—not 
merely smooth for the world, but suited to heaven. 

If it is our duty to set a watch over our own temper, 
and to guard against all temptations to irritability in 
ourselves, it unquestionably becomes us to be careful 
not to vex or irritate others. Persons of very easy 
temper may often throw a stumbling-block, in this 
respect, in the way of their friends, even of those with 
whom they are the most nearly connected. When for 
instance we fail in punctuality, and infringe on the 
time of other persons, by keeping them waiting, in idle 
and unprofitable expectation, beyond an appointed 
hour—when perhaps, in addition, we are the means of 
spoiling their dinner and our own, and of destroying 
the wholesomeness of every one’s food, by half reducing 
it to a cinder—we really are guilty of more than 
one little crime. Not only do we break a contract 
expressed or understood, but careless and easy as we 
are ourselves, we excite an evil temper in those around 
us. The man who has formed this habit of petty 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


161 


transgression will often find himself grievously belated, 
not only in the drawing-rooms and at the dinner tables 
of his friends, but at the place of public worship ; and 
there will become a disturber, both of the serenity of 
his neighbours and of a solemnity with which it is un¬ 
justifiable for any man to interfere. 

Every thing is in some degree immoral, which, 
unnecessarily, interrupts the comfort of the social 
circle of which we form a part. In this respect, the 
want of punctuality may be coupled with absence of 
mind . When some member of a fire-side circle is 
telling an anecdote, or reading aloud, an irrelevant 
question or remark, carelessly addressed across him 
by one of his hearers to another—the fruit of entire 
inattention to what he is uttering—is no small provo¬ 
cation ; yet it is one which may often be observed. 
But absence of mind is one of those things which 
inflicts perpetual loss upon ourselves. We hear vocal 
discourses or reading—the family reading of the Bible 
itself, for example—we may not be insensible to the 
interest of the occasion; nevertheless, our thoughts are 
roving the while through fields of imagination and 
fancy, and two-thirds or three-fourths of the words 
which fall upon our ears, so far as concerns our hearts 
and understandings, are scattered to the winds. We 
even frequent the Christian congregation, and profess 
to be engaged, with our neighbours, in the adoration of 
the Almighty; but our minds may, nevertheless, be 
floating hither and thither; and our worship, if such 
it may be called, is grievously weakened and marred. 
Thus it appears that the precept already alluded to, 

M 


162 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


that we should be a whole man to one thing at a time — 
or, in other words, that we should give our whole 
minds, in succession, to every duty and occasion as it 
passes—is not only necessary to the right exercise of 
intellect, but has an important part in the formation of 
sound moral character. 

To master the floating vacuity of our minds—to fix 
our thoughts, with due concentration, on that which is 
their proper object—to give ourselves, without reserve, 
to the occupation provided in the order of Providence, 
for the present hour, the present moment—is, in fact, 
not only an intellectual exertion, but a good moral 
habit of incalculable importance. It is, indeed, abso¬ 
lutely essential to the fulfilment of our various respon¬ 
sibilities both to God and man. If we fail in applying 
our undivided powers to the performance of our various 
moral and religious duties, as they occur in life, how is 
it possible that we should render to the judge of all 
the earth a good account of our stewardship ? 

There is no more irritating effect of absence of mind , 
than the inattention which we sometimes observe in 
children to the commands of their parents or tutors; 
not so much indeed on grave subjects, as on a multi¬ 
tude of trivial and passing occasions. Twice or thrice, 
perhaps, have the words to be repeated, before the 
youngsters, engrossed by tlieir own thoughts and eager 
pursuits, even hear them at all; and when they hear they 
are little disposed to listen, much less to obey; whereas, 
if the order of families and schools is to be preserved, 
and a healthy moral tone to prevail in them, the hear- 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


163 


ing of the word of command must ever be ready, the 
listening exact, the obedience swift and unhesitating. 
The root of this evil is rebellion; carelessness is only 
its surface, or cover, not its cause. Unquestionably 
it is at once the duty and privilege of parents to gain a 
complete victory over the wills of their children in very 
early life—to decide the doubtful question who shall 
govern , while that decision may be obtained at little 
cost—to habituate their offspring, from the first dawn 
of their intellects, to a ready subjection to all rightful 
human sway. Such an early habit of obedience will 
go far towards insuring the peace and comfort of the 
fire-side circle, it will render the subsequent work of 
the tutor or schoolmaster incomparably easier than is 
now generally the case; above all it will be found the 
best preparation for that yoke of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
which is in truth perfect freedom. 

“ Whatsover thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
might,” is a command given to us under the direct 
authority of the Holy Spirit, and certainly it is of vast 
importance both to our temporal and spiritual welfare. 
The applicability of this command to that large class 
of mankind who are compelled to earn their bread by 
the sweat of their brow, is obvious; but in order to 
form in these persons the habit of industry in such a 
manner as to produce a good moral effect on the character, 
we must be careful that the stimulus which we apply 
be of a legitimate character—one consistent with the 
justice and benevolence of God. Nothing can be more 
demoralizing both to the master and the servant, than 

m 2 


164 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


those stimulants to labour, which are the natural accom¬ 
paniments of slavery—the severity of ownership , the 
whip of the driver, the terror of cruel punishment. 
Nothing can have been more happy in its moral effects 
upon both parties, than the change of such a system 
for freedom fairly tried, for justice and kindness in the 
master’s rule, and for the due application of the motive 
of wages. When these are paid, not according to the 
time spent in work, but according to the quantity of 
work executed, it is surprising what vast feats of 
industry are accomplished, even by the much-abused 
negro, and how completely the precept is fulfilled, to do 
what the hand findeth to do, “with the might” 

Fair wages for work well performed is one of those 
provisions of natural justice, which has received the 
impressive sanction of the sacred writers—that is to 
say, of the unerring Spirit of the moral Governor of 
the universe. The infraction of this provision calls 
down in Scripture the severest reproof, “Behold, the 
hire of the labourers which have reaped down your 
fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and 
the cries of them which have reaped are entered into 
the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” 1 Such passages not 
only betray the radical iniquity of the whole system 
of slavery, but they apply with a melancholy degree 
of force and accuracy, to that absence of due remunera¬ 
tion for useful labour, which is the stigma of our 
manufactures, and often disgraces our agriculture also. 
We cannot, indeed, say that the hire of these labourers 
is kept back by fraud; but we may truly assert, that 
1 James v, 4. 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


165 


a state of society, in which there is a vast accumulation 
of wealth and increase of luxury on the one hand, and 
most inadequate payment for labour on the other— 
with the grinding hand of poverty laid on the heads 
of untold multitudes—is fearfully at variance with the 
precepts of Scripture, and with all the wholesome ten¬ 
dencies of Christianity. Blessed indeed would that 
statesman he, who should discover a remedy for this 
tremendous evil, and apply it with a firm hand, in 
dependence on a God of justice and love! 

But the industry of the mind is of greater importance 
than that which is chiefly or solely corporeal. It is 
made up of two qualities, application and perseverance , 
and it applies to every description of pursuit. Some 
persons find an extreme difficulty in applying their 
mental powers to any one pursuit in life, with any 
degree of vigour; and, when weary and dissatisfied 
with themselves, they summon courage, and make a 
rush on the paths of industry, they are soon appalled 
by the difficulties of the route, and fall back on that 
state of inaction and uselessness, which is, alas, their 
fixed and now insuperable habit. Such a state of 
things is generally the result of a careless and deficient 
education; yet it falls in with one of the most common 
propensities of our nature. A foreigner who had 
travelled extensively through many portions of the 
globe, was asked whether he observed that any one 
quality, more than another, could be regarded as a 
common or universal characteristic of our species. He 
answered, in broken English, “Me tink dat all men 
love lazy!” 


166 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


C’est le 'premier pas qui coute. The chief reason why 
so little is accomplished, is, that so little is attempted. 
To throw oneself into any undertaking, requires as 
much resolution as boarding a ship for an uncertain 
voyage. Things worthy of being done—things which 
we feel that we really ought to do—are constantly 
presenting themselves to the mind; but we secede 
from the trouble of determining to do them—we shrink 
from the premier pas. On all such occasions the spring 
of action truly required, and very generally missing, is 
faith in God. Children must be taught, in humble 
reliance on divine aid, to commit themselves to all the 
undertakings of duty, and boldly to attempt their best. 
The work begun, a steady continuance of mental 
application—an honest perseverance—will seldom fail, 
under the divine blessing, to bring it to a happy con¬ 
clusion; then the young person will be left at liberty, 
and in strength, for higher efforts and yet larger con¬ 
quests over the vis inertice. Good habits in these 
respects have ever effected far more than brilliant 
talents; yet when superior abilities and the force of 
industry are thoroughly united, who shall say what 
wonders may not be achieved ? 

While we endeavour to train up young people in the 
habit of industry, we must teach them to ascertain how 
much of exertion, whether of mind or body, each 
successive effort in the path of labour, study, or duty, 
truly requires. No more power than the object demands 
ought to be expended in the pursuit of it; otherwise 
the power is wasted, and the constant waste of power 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


167 


is sure to terminate, however gradually, in the entire 
loss of it. He who habitually gives his pound for that 
which might have been bought for his penny , will soon 
run through an ample fortune, and may probably find 
a home, at last, in the workhouse. 

This remark may remind us of a virtue which ought 
ever to accompany industry as a twin sister— economy : 
This is a word of large meaning, and relates to other 
things besides money. Properly speaking, economy 
(o/xovo/4/a) is the regulation of the household, and he is 
a good economist, in a domestic point of view, who 
regulates his household aright—who has a place for 
every person, as well as for every thing under his 
hand, and takes good care that every such person or 
thing occupies that place; who admits of no waste, of 
no uselessness, of no disorder, to servant, child, or 
chattel; who adapts his mode of living, not merely to 
his pecuniary means, but to all his circumstances and 
duties in life; and who maintains unbroken the harmony 
of the whole fabric (for every household is such) over 
which he presides. 

As it relates to money, economy is by no means to 
be confounded with parsimony; it bears not merely on 
the saving of our gold and silver, but also on the right 
distribution of them. The well-known epitaph on a 
tomb at Doncaster is worthy the attention of every 

sound moralist— 

Wha! wha! who’s here? 

I Robert of Doncastere— 

What I spend that I had, 

What I saved, that I lost, 

What I gave, that I have. 


168 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


Yet all that a man saves out of his income is by no 
means to be regarded as lost. Many persons in various 
classes of society are placed in such a situation that 
the laying by of a certain portion of their revenue, be 
the whole large or small, is an absolute duty; and 
indeed it would be a folly in any man, under any 
circumstances, to pitch his expenses at the full amount 
of his supposed income, especially when it is the 
product of industry, skill, or trade, and not of pro¬ 
perty already in possession. We must all remember 
that life is full of contingencies, and is by no means 
devoid of exigencies. Every one, therefore, from the 
peasant to the prince, should provide, if possible, a 
margin of safety. The custom of saving a part of 
their incomes, however trifling the amount of them 
may be, is one in which young people, and even 
children, ought to be carefully trained. But to save 
more than our circumstances and duties require, is no 
economy; it is an act of avarice, and when confirmed 
by long habit, usually degenerates into the moral 
insanity and truly contemptible vice of the miser. 

Economy dictates the laying by of such a proportion 
of our revenue as our circumstances justly demand; 
it also requires such a care and prudence—such true 
and well-principled order—in our personal or family 
expenditure, as will leave a generous surplus to meet 
the calls of benevolence, in the promotion of both the 
temporal and spiritual needs of our fellow men. He 
is a good economist in a pecuniary point of view, who 
saves sufficiently, spends prudently and gives with 
judgment, generosity, and effect. Extravagance or 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


169 


exaggeration in any one of these points, and in none 
of them more than in saving, is utterly at variance 
with the virtue for which we plead. It is in fact of 
the utmost importance to the moral welfare of our 
young people, whose worldly circumstances are pros¬ 
perous, that they should be led to form the habit of 
giving easily, liberally, and yet wisely. 

The qualities of mind in reference to money, which 
Scripture chiefly condemns, are first the love of it, 
which is justly described as the root (or one root) of 
all evil, i. e., of all kinds of evil; and, secondly, con¬ 
fidence in it.—“ How hard is it for them who trust in 
riches to enter into the kingdom of God.” 1 These 
two qualities, which constitute that “ covetousness 
which is idolatry,” may sometimes be traced in per¬ 
sons whose sphere in life is very limited, as well as in 
their more opulent neighbours. It is also worthy of 
remark that a man may be very little of a miser— 
nay, may be uncommonly profuse in his expenditure— 
and yet be deeply guilty of this idolatry—this worship 
of a false god—this service of mammon—this mis¬ 
placed love and confidence. Again, the vice in question 
often betrays itself in dangerous and for the most part 
futile attempts to grow rich too quickly, and in trading 
for this purpose on too large a scale. Such bubbles 
are blown, and glitter only to burst ? And often, as 
we may fear, the soul forms part of the possessions 
which we lose in consequence. In that case, who shall 
calculate the depth and horrors of our bankruptcy ? 


1 1 Tim. vi, 10; Mark x, 24. 


170 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


We have spoken of economy as the fit companion 
and comrade of industry. This is true of the economy 
of money. It is still more evidently so of the economy 
of time. The loss or waste of time is indeed a fault 
of perpetual occurrence, and greatly are they to be 
congratulated who have learned the art of packing up 
life with precision and success. They still claim, and 
far more than others enjoy, their seasons of leisure; 
but every hour with them has its appropriate func¬ 
tions, and passing opportunities of obtaining or com¬ 
municating good are seized as they occur, and turned 
to that profitable account for which Providence designs 
them. Such persons experience, in a happy and 
desirable sense, the truth of the proverb, “ the hand 
of the diligent maketh rich.” Not only are they 
enabled to make a reasonable provision for their own 
wants, but they are enriched above their neighbours in 
knowledge, virtue, and usefulness. 

The economy of thought is another branch of the 
virtue in question, which is clearly connected with 
true industry. No tongue or pen is sufficient to set 
forth the awful extent in which thought is misapplied 
and wasted. Happy the young person who has 
learned the lesson of thinking well, and to good pur¬ 
pose! Happy he, whether young or old, from whose 
responsible soul, wicked thoughts in the first place, 
and vain thoughts in the next, are habitually excluded! 
But where are we to meet with this high attainment ? 
Only in the watchful, humble, dependent Christian. 

“ Guard well thy thought— 

Our thoughts are heard in heaven.” Young. 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


171 


Prudence is assuredly a virtue of no mean impor¬ 
tance, and the watchful application of it to the ever- 
varying affairs of life may certainly be accounted a 
good moral habit. As it relates to prudence, this 
world may almost be regarded, under the divine govern¬ 
ment, as one not merely of probation, but of swift 
and certain retribution. With respect to many glaring 
infractions of the law of God, we often see little, in 
the events of the present life, but a tendency to retri¬ 
bution—a tendency which is liable to be interrupted 
by natural circumstances and human power, and for 
the full completion of which we look forward, in faith, 
to the life to come. But the breach of prudence , 
though scarcely to be called a vice, is often visited 
with severe punishment here. Frequently is it fol¬ 
lowed by the loss of reputation, as well as of wealth 
and worldly comfort. The world is ever prone to 
take vengeance, even in persons of talent, benevolence, 
and piety, on the absence of discretion; nor will a 
generally prudent course be deemed to justify an 
occasional lapse. Many are they who can painfully 
understand the force of Solomon’s wise saying, “Dead 
flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send 
forth a stinking savour; so doth a little folly him that 
is in reputation for wisdom and honour.” 1 

On the contrary, those who habitually “ look before 
they leap,” even in matters which appear to be of 
little comparative importance, will avoid a multitude 
of disagreeables, and not a few distresses which would 
otherwise have fallen to their lot. Yet this habit of 
1 Eccles. x, 1. 


172 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


caution is carried to its right end only in those who 
add to it a power of acting, when they do act, w T ith 
resolution and singleness of mind; to which may be 
added a dauntless perseverance. It is a weakening 
process to resolve and perform hastily , and afterwards 
to find ourselves compelled to measure back our own 
steps; or if this cannot be done, to cast “ the longing 
lingering look behind.” Those who yield to these 
infirmities, though less criminal than Lot’s wife, may 
find themselves turned as into a pillar of salt—para¬ 
lyzed for their onward journey, and for every wise 
and worthy purpose in life. 

There is, as I believe, a divine visitation—a secret 
something, wiser and better than ourselves—which 
would keep us, if we would listen to its warnings, 
from things imprudent, as well as from things vicious. 
Socrates used to say, that whenever he felt inclined to 
mingle in the strife of politics, or to do any other 
foolish thing, he never failed to find himself checked 
by the <puvr) duifiovog, the voice of a superintending 
deity—.a voice intelligibly heard within . Who shall 
say that this was not a warning from heaven ? And 
who need doubt that those who humbly endeavour to 
become conformed to the divine will, will be enabled, 
if they wait for it, to hear the voice of the Spirit, 
respecting every proposed action of practical import¬ 
ance, saying to them, Do it, or Do it not? I may 
confess I have often felt the secret check, on such 
occasions, of Do it not; and when I have reasoned 
away the feeling, by proving to myself that the action 
in question was sinless, and so have done it, I have 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


173 


soon found, that sinless as it may have been, it was 
not wise. Probably many of my readers may plead 
guilty to the same charge of misdemeanour. 

Solomon assures us that the “ thoughts of every one 
that is hasty tend only to want.” 1 He also declares 
that there is “ more hope of a fool than of a man who 
is hasty in his words.” 2 It is indeed surprising how 
much mischief a few words too quickly uttered—for 
instance an expression of anger, the premature dis¬ 
closure of an intention, or the blabbing of a secret— 
has often occasioned. That inward monitor of whom 
we have spoken, if duly attended to, would prevent 
those evils, by an habitual bridling of the tongue. 
“The tongue is a little member, but boasteth great 
things; behold how great a matter a little fire kin- 
dleth.” 3 

I remember that it was observed of a great and 
good man, who was zealous in his day for the cause of 
truth and righteousness, that he was not only wise in 
giving, but discreet in keeping counsel. Such discre¬ 
tion is a jewel of great value. 

Here, however, we must not forget an important 
distinction. When prudence degenerates into wariness , 
and wariness becomes excessive, magnanimity and 
even honesty are often sacrificed to the habitual non¬ 
committal. One cannot place the confidence justly 
due to a friend or a brother, in those who are always 
studying not to commit themselves. Such persons 
are thorough-paced self-seekers, and their excess of 
wisdom may, in the end, turn out to be their poverty 
1 Prov. xxi, 5. 2 Prov. xxix, 20. 3 James iii, 5. 


174 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


and their folly. It is a blessed thing when young 
people are trained in the joint practice of caution and 
generosity, of prudence and courage. “ God hath not 
given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, 
and of a sound mind .” 1 

I was once acquainted with a person remarkable for 
sound sense, one of whose professed principles was to 
train up both his sons and daughters in the habit of 
fearing nothing, so much as fear; and those who have 
suffered a multitude of inconveniences, and have under¬ 
gone much pain in life, from undue fearfulness, will be 
the best able to appreciate the importance of such 
training. There can be no doubt that fear is very 
much connected with nervous sensibility, and this must 
vary according to the natural constitution. Where it 
is prominent in the character of a child—so that many 
little matters are fraught with terror, which have 
nothing in them to terrify—great care is required that 
our endeavours to remedy the evil be well directed 
and applied. The absence of severity, and of any thing 
in word or deed, which can shock the tender mind, must 
be carefully maintained; a steady, gentle, encouraging 
hand must at once support and guide the weakling, 
until the nerves become stronger, and the inner man 
braver. Every supposed danger quietly surmounted, 
will render the next wave that approaches less for¬ 
midable, and thus a good measure of manliness and 
hardihood may be gradually acquired. 

It is a sad habit of mind to destroy the happiness 

1 Tim. i, 7. 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


175 


of tlie present by anticipating future evil, and by 
imagining the approach of afflictions which are not, in 
truth about to occur. Grace will be given to us, if we 
seek it, to support the trials of the passing day, or the 
passing hour; but if we take sorrow on ourselves by 
forestalment , we are not likely to be favoured with 
divine support, under a burden of our own creation. 
Undue fear and anxiety are closely connected, and the 
habit of them both ought to be carefully shunned by 
all who wish well to their own happiness. Yet human 
nature is and will be weak, and I know of no adequate 
remedy for these evils, but the tender care of Him who 
is often pleased to interfere on behalf of his servants, 
and to say to the boisterous winds and waves, “ Peace, 
be still.” 

We sometimes find in moments of exigency, when 
unexpectedly plunged into great danger, a feeling of 
quietness spread over the mind, which does not arise 
from our natural temperament, and which can be 
regarded only as the gift of a merciful Providence; but 
how few are able, at the very moment of surprisal, to 
take a clear view of the difficulties with which they 
are surrounded, to select the best means of remedy or 
escape, and to apply those means with vigour and 
effect! This presence of mind is an admirable quality, 
which cultivation may in some degree render habitual, 
and which, when become so, never fails to excite respect 
in those around us. No wonder indeed that all should 
esteem and applaud a quality which often enables 
individuals to protect and deliver their fellow-men, as 
well as themselves, from impending ruin or death. 


176 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


When at sea, I have been present on some occasions 
which have naturally suggested these remarks. Once, 
when our frail bark was struck with lightning, and 
was believed to be on fire, and when in the midst of a 
terrible thunder storm, there appeared to be but little 
hope of escape from the jaws of death, it was gratify¬ 
ing to observe the quietness which reigned among 
most of the passengers, including several females, and 
which seemed to be a gift bestowed for the occasion. 
In the meantime our captain, though left nearly single- 
handed—for almost all the sailors deserted their duty 
and rushed into the cabin—displayed that undisturbed 
capacity both for j udging and acting wisely, to which, 
under Providence, we owed our preservation. There 
can be no doubt that, with him, this cool and effective 
management was the result, not merely of mental con¬ 
stitution, but of repeated trial and habit. 

Fortitude in bearing pain, either in mind or body, is 
a most reputable companion of courage; and where the 
sufferer not only endures the infliction with magnani¬ 
mity, but wears the sunny smile during its continuance, 
divine grace may indeed be said to triumph over nature. 
Instances of this description are afforded, in abundance, 
by the history of Christian martyrs, whether they have 
suffered under the cruelty, of heathen potentates, or of 
the fellow professors of their own faith. Probably 
none of these martyrs have displayed more of a holy 
fortitude than certain women. Mary Dyer, a member 
of the Society of Friends, who was hanged in New 
England, nearly two hundred years ago, for preaching 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


177 


the gospel to the people, ascended the scaffold with a 
willing step, addressed her surrounding persecutors 
with calmness, and died in peace and joy. In sickness 
and sorrow, there are no braver sufferers than some 
of the softer sex; yet this bravery is usually connected 
with that gentle pliancy which dares not defy the 
storm, but yields to the pressure of affliction, and suffers 
the mighty wave to pass over and spend itself. 

Sometimes, however, the wave is long in passing, or 
many waves speed their course in continued succession; 
and certainly there is no good quality more continually 
called into action—and none in which the force of habit 
operates more beneficially—than patience. I remember 
sitting beside the couch of a pious female, who, so far 
as she or her companions knew, never slept. She was 
liable to a perpetual succession of terrible convulsions, 
which, after the cessation of a minute or two between 
each paroxysm, would raise her violently from her 
bed, and when subsiding, would let her head fall as 
violently upon the pillow. This state of things had 
continued for many years, and I have lately heard 
that it is still continuing. But patience in the case of 
this afflicted one, confirmed, under divine grace, by 
long habit, appeared to be uninterrupted; and a bright 
ray of comfort on her countenance afforded a clear 
evidence that all was peace within. 

Long continued sickness, with its usual accompani¬ 
ments of bodily pain and infirmity of mind, does 
indeed often put patience to a close proof, both in the 
sufferers themselves, and in those whose duty it is to 
watch over them, and to minister to their wants. But 

N 


178 


GOOD MORAL HAEITS. 


let the guardians of the sick remember, that such 
afflictions are intended not only for the purification of 
those who are thus brought low, but for the instruction 
of all around them: 


“ Smitten friends 

Are angels sent on errands full of love; 

For us they languish, and for us they die : 

And shall they languish, shall they die in vain? ” 

Young. 


Persons who undertake extensive and distant mis¬ 
sions in foreign lands, will experience many a trial of 
the same virtue. Rough roads, slow travelling, calms 
at sea, and a multitude of other difficulties, including 
many an obstruction to the work in which they are 
engaged, will at once exercise, and if rightly borne, 
improve their patience. But as patience has its perfect 
work, they will find the truth of the inspired saying, 
“ unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness.” 
This quality, however, is sometimes almost equally 
necessary for those who seldom forsake their own 
homes ; trials and provocations pursue us everywhere. 
Then let all who wish to live easily, and to pass their 
days in peace and quietness, seek after patience; for 
the best of men require to be furnished with it, what¬ 
soever their calling, whatsoever their circumstances in 
life. “Ye have need of patience, that after ye have 
done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” 1 
“Behold, we count them happy which endure; ye 
have heard of the patience of Job, and ye have seen 


1 Heb. x, 36. 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


179 


the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and 
of tender mercy.” 1 

Probably there is no Christian virtue so nearly 
allied to patience as humility. The proud are ever apt 
to he impatient; they know not how to endure that 
their fellow men, or even divine Providence, should 
for a moment interrupt their serenity and happiness. 
On the other hand, it helps us vastly in bearing con¬ 
tempt and injury from our fellow men, and the inflic¬ 
tion of all kinds of crosses by the holy hand of perfect 
wisdom and love, when we remember that not a trouble 
assails us, which we do not, in the sight of Heaven, 
most richly deserve—that we are poor, wretched, 
guilty earth-worms—mere pensioners of an hour on 
the bounty of our God, and depending for every bless¬ 
ing on his unmerited love—his gratuitous mercy. 
These truths cannot be too deeply impressed on the 
minds of children; the habit cannot be too carefully 
cherished in them, not indeed of the formal confession, 
but of the secret and abiding feeling of their own 
unworthiness. It works well with a man in a moral 
point of view, and for the purposes of this life as well 
as of that which is to come, to be thoroughly imbued 
with the doctrine of Jesus, “without me ye can do 
nothing.” The foundation of true humility lies in the 
conviction of sin, and in a living sense of our need of 
a Saviour. This virtue, however, will never fail to 
lead us to prefer our fellow-men in honour before our¬ 
selves. Such a preference of others is a sacrifice of 


N 2 


1 James v, 11. 


180 


GOOD MORAL HABITS 


the natural vanity and selfishness of the heart, to 
which young people ought to be accustomed ; it is a 
habit of inestimable value. Yet a just self respect— 
the par sui estimatio —ought also to be instilled; then 
we shall have that union of diffidence with manliness, 
of unfeigned humility with an open, honest bearing, 
which never fails to conciliate respect, and which 
peculiarly fits a man to cope with circumstances of 
weight and importance. 

In reviewing the points already mentioned, the 
young reader will, it is hoped, call to mind how need¬ 
ful for the comfort and happiness of mankind is the 
habitual exercise of courtesy, good temper, punctuality, 
ready attention, and obedience to those who have the 
rule over us, industry, economy of money, of time, and 
of thought, prudence and discretion in word and deed, 
courage, fortitude, patience, and humility. We may 
now conclude this somewhat cursory essay, with a few 
remarks on temperance, truth, and benevolence. 

1. Temperance. The “temperate” man of the 
New Testament (and this book contains the best of all 
codes of morals, both for life and for eternity) is 
eyxearyjc, which means, “the man who has power in 
himself, over himself.” Hence it follows, that the 
temperance (gyxgcm/a) of Scripture is a most compre¬ 
hensive virtue, embracing the whole scope of that 
internal government, which (under grace) it is our 
duty to exercise over our own propensities. Thus 
the fulfilment of this duty will entail, as a general 
result, a compliance with the apostle’s precept—“ Let 
your moderation (ro imsnisg) be known unto all men, 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


181 


the Lord is at hand.” The to smenug, or moderation , 
in this passage, is probably equivalent to the rb rgenov, 
that which truly hecometh. It denotes not only a 
leniency towards our fellow-men, but such a submis¬ 
sion, on our own parts, to the dictates of infinite wis¬ 
dom, as will lead to the keeping of all our propensities 
within their just limits—even in that blameless order 
which God has appointed. This is indeed a high 
attainment—one which the Greeks (and Paul after 
them) were accustomed to describe under the name of 
eojpgoff'jvi], which means not merely sobriety, but sound 
mindedness. To live under the regulation of this 
virtue (which comprehends several branches of our 
duty to ourselves) is in apostolic language, as well as 
in that of the wiser heathen writers, to live cuappomg -— 
soberly; i. e., in such a manner as a well regulated 
mind cannot fail to dictate. 1 

The practical operation of this most important quality 
is, in the first place, to restrain the whole man—body 
and soul—from things unlawful. There is a line of 
light drawn around us by the hand of God, which we 
cannot pass over without the commission of sin; and 
it is the first and most' needful office of the virtue which 
we are now contemplating, so to regulate the natural 
propensities as to keep them within this holy limit. In 
the exercise of this office, temperance may truly be said 
to make use of habit as her handmaid; for every single 
occasion on which the temptation is resisted, diminishes 
the power of the unruly passion, and adds strength to 
the virtue. 


» Titus ii, 12. 


182 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


But scarcely less important is the next function of 
temperance—that of moderating the indulgence of 
natural desire or appetite in things lawful —an object 
for the securing of which good habit is equally essen¬ 
tial. As it relates to the body, he only can be regarded 
as the temperate man, who is accustomed and inured 
to this moderation; and possibly there are but few 
who are habituated to the true Christian standard in 
this respect. Far be it from me to plead for the life of 
an ascetic, or for the churlish disuse of the bounties of 
Providence—much less for those self-inflicted crosses 
and mortifications which distinguish the children of 
superstition. But temperance, among Christian pro¬ 
fessors, in the point of view which I have now men¬ 
tioned, has surely great need to be on the advance. 

There is one example to which I am inclined to 
allude. It is an excellent thing, in my opinion, to 
accustom children and young people to total abstinence 
from fermented, and therefore intoxicating liquors. 
This abstinence becomes easy and even pleasant by 
habit, and it leaves both mind and body in a cool and 
favourable condition for all the functions and duties of 
life. It plucks up one of the most fruitful seeds of all 
manner of evil; or to change the metaphor, it lays the 
axe to one of the most vigorous roots of the “ corrupt 
tree.” So long as we never use intoxicating drinks 
we are, of course, secure from the danger of abusing 
them; and when we consider how large, how varied, 
how insidious that danger is, it seems to be the part of 
wisdom to teach our young people wholly to avoid it. 
Nor is this obligation of propriety confined to the young. 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


183 


I well know that much allowance must he made for the 
long-formed habits of persons who are advanced in life ; 
yet when we consider how vast a multitude of our fellow 
men are daily falling a sacrifice to intoxicating drink; 
when we behold the awful thronging of the workhouse, 
the madhouse, and the jail, which is the ascertained 
effect of such drink; when we carry our views farther, 
and think of the myriads, nay, millions, whom alcoholic 
beverages have been the means of plunging (as we have 
reason to believe) into the bottomless depth of everlast¬ 
ing ruin—we are assuredly furnished with ample 
reasons for entirely disusing them. So far as our 
example can operate, let it operate on the safe side; 
and the astonishing fact that five millions of Irishmen— 
those native lovers of whiskey—have become total 
abstainers, affords abundant evidence that example does 
operate, in this manner, on a very large scale. Under 
these circumstances I am compelled to acknowledge— 
what until of late years I was very unwilling to admit— 
that the apostle’s principle of action fully applies to this 
great subject—“destroy not him with thy meat, for 

whom Christ died.for meat destroy not the work of 

God.it is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink 

wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, 
or is offended, (s/cavdahifyrcu,) or is made weak .” 1 

If a righteous control of the bodily appetites in eating 
and drinking forms an important part of that habitual 
morality which is required of us as men and as Chris¬ 
tians, still more evidently necessary is such a control 
over other propensities of a more seductive character. 

1 Rom. xiv, 15—21. 




184 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


Here the line drawn around us, by the law of the Lord, 
is indeed clear and determinate; and the passing over 
of that line has produced, among mankind, a most 
awful amount of disease, misery, and crime. In num¬ 
berless instances, as we have reason to believe, has it 
been the ruin both of body and soul. It is impossible 
too strongly to feel the necessity of training up our boys 
in habits of strict and unblemished virtue in this respect^ 
and especially of inducing them, under a sense of the 
weakness and corruption of their fallen nature, not only 
to seek for strength to resist temptation, but for wisdom 
to avoid it. “ Enter not into the path of the wicked, 
and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass 
NOT BY IT, TURN FROM IT, AND PASS AWAY .” 1 

But temperance (eyxgocrs/a) applies to other things 
besides the functions and appetites of the body. This 
virtue lays, or ought to lay, her cooling, restraining 
hand, on pursuits and engagements of quite another 
character. A man may be intemperate in business, in 
literature, and even in philanthropy and religion. He 
may pass the boundaries of a righteous moderation in 
all these matters. He may become a slave to the desk, 
or a useless bookworm, or a spendthrift in charity, or 
a fanatic in things spiritual. There is such a thing as 
a “ zeal not according to knowledge,” which may be 
exercised under the plea of righteousness itself—a 
danger which probably Solomon had in view when he 
warned his readers against being “ righteous overmuch.*> 

“ Be not righteous overmuch.for why shouldest 

thou destroy thyself?” 2 The righteousness which is 
1 Prov. iv, 14, 15. * Eccles. vii, 16. 



GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


185 


“overmuch,” is the righteousness (so called) which 
springs from the polluted fountain of the will and wis¬ 
dom of man. But true righteousness is the blessed 
result of the influence of God’s Holy Spirit. Of this 
divine influence we cannot have too much—we cannot 
avail ourselves of that which we have too largely. It 
is the water of life, let us drink of it abundantly. It 
is the breath of heaven, let us spread our sails to it 
without fear ; let it carry our frail bark whithersoever 
it listeth ; it will never harm us, it will never disor¬ 
ganize our mental harmonies ; it will never destroy the 
right propor/ions in our feelings, our dispositions, our 
pursuits; it will never lead us to break—on the con¬ 
trary, it will facilitate, establish, and confirm—the law 
of temperance. In the truly temperate man—the 
happy child of lyxgcm/a—the mind governs the body, 
grace regulates the mind, the creature obeys the voice 
of the Spirit, and the Creator reigns over all. 

2. Truth. If any one point, in moral culture, is 
important above all others, it is to impress on the 
minds of young persons an abiding and awful sense of 
the sovereignty of the law of truth. They ought to 
know and to be made to feel , that this is a law which 
must rule and keep the mastery over all the dictates of 
selfishness or shame on the one hand, and all the claims 
of politeness or kindness on the other. It is a law of 
which no expediency can justify the sacrifice ; for “all 
liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth 
with fire and brimstone.” 1 The devil was a liar from 
the beginning, and falsehood is peculiarly and pre- 
1 Rev. xxi, 8. 


186 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


eminently his work and province. On the contrary, 
truth is one of the unchanging attributes of Deity ; 
and Christ, who was the Word made flesh, is emphati¬ 
cally styled “The truth.” There was “no un¬ 
righteousness,” and therefore no want of veracity, in 
Him. A perfect integrity marked the whole of his 
conduct in word and deed—he was true, as God is true, 
and faithful, as God is faithful. 

The lie direct is no uncommon fruit, in children, of 
the natural corruption of the human heart. Under the 
temptation of fear more especially, it is often uttered ; 
and if not carefully checked and punished it will 
become habitual, and will thus most dangerously infect 
the whole character. Those who are accustomed to 
visit prisons, and other abodes of criminals, must be 
well aware how entirely all regard for truth may be 
extinguished, and lying become a regular common¬ 
place practice, through the force of habit. More than 
a few instances have come under my notice, of crimi¬ 
nals who have persevered in positive falsehood, (as 
there was every reason to consider it,) even to their 
latest breath. For such as these, how vain must have 
been a formal participation in the offices and ceremo¬ 
nies of religion ! 

The lie direct, however, is so universally discouraged 
by all reflecting parents, and so soon becomes disgrace¬ 
ful in the school, and even in the nursery, that it seldom 
continues to degrade young people of any class, who 
are tolerably educated ; and among persons who are 
accustomed to cultivated society, it is too gross—too 
liable to be hooted out of the way—to have much place 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 187 

in the daily communications even of the worldly and 
comparatively irreligious. 

But lying in its more refined and seductive forms, is 
ever prone to insinuate itself into human conversation. 
Nothing is more easy and natural than to put a partially 
false colouring on any topic which may arise in our 
hourly intercourse with our fellow-men. We fear to 
offend them ; we, therefore, tell them only half the 
truth, or the whole of it in such a garb as more than 
half conceals it from view, and thus we leave them, to 
some considerable extent, under a false impression. 
We desire to please them ; we, therefore, give to our 
statements the peculiar tint (whether more or less 
precisely) to which their mental eye is accustomed. 
Or we think only of entertaining them, and, therefore, 
we exaggerate our pictures, and shoot (almost without 
knowing it) with the “ long bow.” There is also, 
many times, a want of perfect integrity in mere silence 
or concealment. We have, perhaps, something in our 
minds against a person, of which we may have little 
difficulty in speaking behind his back ; but to himself 
we carefully avoid saying a syllable on the subject. 
In the mean time, if he is to judge by the ease and 
cordiality of our manners towards him, he must need 
suppose, that he stands perfectly well with us—nay, 
that he is without blemish in our sight. Now, it is 
certain, that such a course is directly contrary to the 
dictates both of sound charity and true honesty. 

These deviations from simple homely truth, are of 
perpetual occurrence in the world ; and there are few, 
perhaps, even of the more serious among mankind, 


188 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


who do not, at times, feel smitten by the rod of con¬ 
science for some measure of departure, in such matters, 
from the line of a perfect rectitude. Highly important 
is it, therefore, for the virtue and welfare of our 
children, that we should train them, from the earliest 
dawn of their intellects, both in the love of truth, and 
in a deep heartfelt sense of its sovereignty. 

We sometimes hear of “ white lies,” by which I 
suppose, may be meant those falsehoods which are so 
familiar, and so well understood, that they no longer 
deceive. But the term is one which truly belongs to 
the low standard of an evil world ; for all falsehood, 
in whatsoever form it may be couched, whether more 
or less efficacious in misleading others, is detestable in 
the sight of God. Deceit is its object and end, white 
though the world may call it. We cannot take a 
better example than the common worldly practice (less 
common, I trust, than in times past) of giving to the 
unwelcome guest, or the guest who arrives at an 
inconvenient moment, the answer, “ Not at home,” 
while the party visited is all the while snug and safe 
in his own study, or parlour, or chamber. Who can 
doubt that the moral standard of the domestics, in 
whose mouth this lie is almost daily placed by their 
masters, is miserably lowered by the commission which 
they bear ? Who can doubt that such masters sin 
doubly before the Lord, first, in their own person, and 
secondly, in that of their servants—both in originating 
the lie, and in corrupting the agents of it ? 

The common parlance of the world, in many other 
matters of a still more familiar character, is notoriously 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


189 


false. Why should one gentleman style himself, in his 
letters, the humble and obedient servant of another, 
when, all the while, he would scorn to be subject to 
him even in the slightest particulars ? Why should 
we apply to those around us a vast variety of titles and 
descriptions, which, however formal and ex officio they 
may now be considered, are, strictly speaking, “ flatter¬ 
ing titles,” without any foundation, either in law or 
truth ? Will not Christians cease from the use of 
such appellations, whenever the day shall arrive for 
the accomplishment of a very blessed prophecy— 
“ Then will I turn to the people a pure language”—or, 
as in the margin, “ a pure lip ?” 1 

Parents and others who have the care of children, 
have indeed few more important tasks to perform, than 
that of imbuing them, even from their very early years, 
with the habit of strict truth-speaking. Very carefully 
should they be taught not only to shun gross decep¬ 
tion, but never to use expressions on any subject 
whatsoever, and to whomsoever addressed, which are 
not literally true. This good habit is of far greater 
importance to the formation of a truly upright cha¬ 
racter than many persons suppose, and it must have 
for its foundation and support, an abiding sense of the 
omnipresence and omniscience of God —“ There is not 
a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it 
altogether !” 2 

There is scarcely any purpose for which the love of 
truth, and genuine honesty of mind, are of more im¬ 
portance, than that of ascertaining what the truth really 

1 Zeph. iii, 9. 2 Psalm cxxxix, 4. 


190 


GOOD MORAL HABITS 


is. This can be done only by the impartial collecting 
or receiving of evidence, and by the just appreciation 
of that evidence when it is obtained. There can be no 
doubt, that the equitable care and strict impartiality 
which prevail, in this respect, in British courts of 
justice, are founded, to a great extent, on that well 
principled love of truth, and determination to maintain 
it in all matters of a forensic character, which have 
long marked the judges and jurors of this country. 
Yet our national annals are not without flagrant in¬ 
stances of the sacrifice of simple truth, to political 
bias, and even of the shedding, in consequence, of the 
blood of many innocent and honourable men. 

The plain fact is, that a just use and appreciation of 
evidence, is ever found to depend on the state of the 
affections, and when these are warped by prejudice or 
passion, truth is no longer in dominion over us—she 
loses her rightful sovereignty ; her influence becomes 
partial and defective, or is altogether paralyzed. When 
such is our condition of mind, the fabrics which we 
build in literature or science, in politics, or even in 
religion, are of little worth. They may, indeed, be 
ingeniously put together, and we may stoutly insist on 
their excellence and stability, as if truth, without any 
mixture of error, were entirely on our side. But, in 
the day which shall make manifest every man’s work 
“ of what sort it is,” the fire of the Lord will destroy 
them, as the “hay, wood, or stubble,” and the Temple 
of Truth— apart from all human prejudice, and con¬ 
structed only of pure metal and precious stones—will 
arise in their room. This temple alone will be finally 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


191 


established by the hand of our God, and permanently 
filled with his glory. 

3. Benevolence, This Christian virtue, so im¬ 
portant for the purposes of life, and so essential in the 
character which can alone adapt us to the atmosphere 
of heaven, is founded, under the grace of God, on 
sympathy. It may be defined as good-will towards 
our fellow-creatures; it wills or desires their welfare 
and happiness, even as a man wills or desires the same 
benefits for himself. The benevolent man is he who 
habitually places himself in the position of others, so 
that he may feel their sorrows and joys, as if they 
were his own. Thus our Saviour commanded the true 
principle of benevolence to be carried into action, 
when he gave us his golden rule, “Whatsoever ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye even so 
to them.” 

If then we would educate our young people in the 
dispositions and practices of benevolence, we must 
study to form in their minds, in the days of their 
youthful tenderness, the habit of sympathy. It is true 
that the natural dispositions of children widely differ 
in this respect; but much may be done by the influence 
of parental care and instruction, and by consistent 
example. It is not very difficult to excite in them a 
feeling of sorrow for the afflictions of their fellow- 
creatures—to teach them to place themselves in the 
room of the oppressed and unhappy, and thus to 
imbibe a sense of their woes. And yet there are 
principles in our corrupt nature in the fall, directly 
opposed to these feelings. A French philosopher has 


192 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


assured us—and with too much of truth— U qu!il y 
a quelque chose qui ne nous deplait pas, dans les mal- 
heurs de nos amis,” that, “ there is something which 
does not displease us in the misfortunes of our friends.” 
So far are we from naturally placing ourselves in their 
room, that we are prone to feel a secret satisfaction 
that they are depressed below ourselves in the scale of 
ease, honour, or happiness. Now this feeling is 
unquestionably wicked, and tends to the destruction of 
that good will to others, which is founded on sympathy. 
Let us pray to be delivered from all such sensations— 
momentary though they be—that our sympathies may 
be swift as lightning, and genial as the rays of an 
unclouded sun. Let us form the habit of placing our¬ 
selves mentally in the very condition of those whom 
we ought to pity—that our compassion may flow 
towards them freely and efficaciously. 

Cruelty to dumb animals is exceedingly common in 
children; it is a part of that destructive nature which 
belongs to them in the fall. This cruelty cannot be 
too carefully counteracted. There is a just sympathy to 
be felt with the beasts of the earth, and with the fowls 
of the air. I am well aware that it is a law of 
divine benevolence as well as wisdom, that the lives of 
these creatures should be taken on many occasions— 
for the purpose of food, and for the prevention of 
injury. Nevertheless there are two principles, in 
reference to this subject, which appertain, as I con¬ 
ceive, to Christian morality, and ought, therefore, to be 
carefully impressed on the minds of the young. The 
first is, that their lives should always be so taken as to 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


193 


put them to the least possible degree and duration 
of pain. Were this principle fully acted on, the knife 
or mallet of the butcher would be applied with a better- 
principled care than is now often the case; and the 
sufferings of animals preparatory to slaughter (for 
instance the hard and cruel driving of sheep and oxen, 
the repeated bleeding of calves, the conveyance of 
them in the rough cart, with their heads hanging over 
its sides, and the odious cramming of Smithfield) 
would soon give way to a more enlightened and 
humane system. The gun of the shooter too—so 
prone to wound and maim—would generally be re¬ 
nounced ; and, in many instances, might be replaced 
by the net of the fowler. 

The other principle alluded to would, as I think, 
undermine the whole affair of sporting. It is that we 
should never make a pleasure of the destruction of 
animal life. Were young people early imbued with 
this principle, they would soon find more innocent 
methods of healthy recreation than the chase and the 
battu, and there is reason to believe, that in the grand 
article of the formation of character, they would be 
great gainers by the change. 

“Detested sport, 

That owes its pleasures to another’s pain; 

That feeds upon the sobs and dying shrieks 
Of harmless nature, dumb, but yet endued 
With eloquence that agonies inspire, 

Of silent tears and heart-distending sighs! ” 

Cowper. 

Sympathy, considered as the foundation of benevo¬ 
lence, is far indeed from being confined to “ weeping 

o 


194 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


with those who weep.” The apostle also commands 
us to “rejoice with those who rejoice,” and I am 
inclined to believe that this is the more difficult virtue 
of the two. Our French philosopher might have 
added to the remark already quoted, qu’il y a quelque 
chose qui ne nous plait pas dans le bonheur de nos amis, 
that “ there is something which does not please us in 
the happiness of our friends.” Our degenerate nature, 
full of pride and foolishness, shrinks from the notion 
that we fall below others, or that others are our rivals 
or superiors, even in prosperity and pleasure. But let 
it be our endeavour, both by precept and example, to 
habituate our children so to change places, as it were, 
with others, that they may forget themselves for the 
moment, and rejoice, with heartfelt feelings of satisfac¬ 
tion, in the joy of a brother, a neighbour, or a friend. 
Such is one of the most precious operations of true 
benevolence; it is a triumph over self, by which self 
is marvellously bettered. He who taught us to bless 
them which curse us, and to pray for them who perse¬ 
cute us, will enable us, if we endeavour to follow his 
footsteps, to exercise the sympathies of joy as well as 
of sorrow, even towards our enemies. 

It is not my purpose to travel over the almost 
boundless fields of the present subject. I wish only in 
conclusion to remind the reader, that the doctrine of 
passive impressions and active principles, is in no 
department of morals more important than in relation 
to benevolence. Benevolence will decay if beneficence 
be not steadily maintained. Benevolence must be 
carried into act, daily and hourly, nay almost moment- 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


195 


arily, if we would preserve and improve this precious 
ingredient in the Christian character. Now action is 
far indeed from being confined to deeds; there is action 
for the mind in thought, and for the mind and body 
too, in words. 

If benevolence then is to have due course in us, we 
must learn to think kindly of all men. We cannot 
indeed think icell of all men; we must not confuse the 
eternal distinctions of right and wrong, or sacrifice 
truth to a mock charity; but think kindly of all men 
we may, and this ought to be our frame and our habit. 
Happy are they who, when they think of the fellows 
of their race, habitually discharge from their minds the 
stings of satire and the venom of spleen ! Happy they 
who, in the multitude of their thoughts within them, 
are more apt to dwell on the beam in their own eyes, 
than to perplex themselves with speculating on the 
mote in the eyes of a brother! Happy they who, 
while they dare not blind themselves to the faults of 
others, are ever ready to take a fair view of all that is 
excellent in those around them! In such persons 
benevolence is confirmed by a frequently recurring act 
of the mind; and while a virtue destined for heaven 
is thus strengthened and nourished, this present life 
brings far more of ease and pleasure in its train, than 
it can ever do for the satirical, the splenetic, the 
misanthropical. 

To backbite with the tongue is a practice which 
Scripture visits with merited rebuke. It is opposed to 
justice as well as charity, for we have no more right 
to rob a man of his reputation and character, than we 

o 2 


196 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


Lave to steal his property. If our neighbour take a 
wrong course, let us tell him of it face to face; very 
possibly he may satisfy us with his explanations—if 
not, we may perhaps restore an erring brother; but 
we must not make his faults the subject of our gossip; 
much less may we give currency, as thousands do, to 
evil reports of others, which, when examined at their 
source, are found to be destitute of the slightest founda¬ 
tion. Let our young people be trained in the habit of 
avoiding this mischief, even in those lesser forms of 
oblique hints, satirical inuendoes, and ludicrous re¬ 
marks about trifles, which inflict small wounds on 
the reputation of the absent, and are well described 
by an excellent writer on detraction as pin-sticking. 
Let us teach them, especially by example, to guard the 
character of their neighbours, and either to speak well 
of them, when the truth warrants it, or not to descant 
on their characters at all. It is a happy circumstance 
when our conversation has respect to things rather 
than persons, for here there is safety. In the mean¬ 
time be it ever remembered, that charity in thought 
and word, as well as deed, is the “fulfilling of the 
law,” and “the bond of perfectness.” 

But benevolence is more especially put forth into 
beneficence by deeds. We are in a miserable condition 
when the claims of our suffering fellow-mortals fail to 
have any influence in opening our purse strings; and 
certainly it is cause for shame and humiliation, that 
multitudes of those who make a high profession of 
Christianity are as much afraid of untying those 
strings, for the benefit of their fellow-men, as if their 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


197 


very life was in their purses. This evil may he very 
much avoided by a careful training of young people in 
the habit, according to their means, of pecuniary libe¬ 
rality—a virtue which is then the most precious, when 
it is hidden from the view of our fellow-men—when 
even the left hand knoweth not what the right hand 
doeth. Yet we are not to forget that the giving of 
money forms but a small part of charity. There is the 
labour of love, the stedfast persevering industry in the 
cause of the poor, the ignorant, and the unhappy, which 
far exceeds the careless pouring forth even of abun¬ 
dant alms. Nor ought this labour of love to be con¬ 
fined to objects of a temporal nature; it must extend 
itself to the loftier and more permanent interests of the 
soul. The philanthropist is often rather sneered at 
than applauded in this splenetic world; and some who 
have nobly devoted their best years to the benefit of 
their fellow-men, have become the favourite butt of 
worldly politicians and party newspapers. But such 
persecution is little worthy of regard. The unselfish, 
untiring, single-minded Christian philanthropist, is a 
noble type of our species; a blessing on earth, and 
blessed himself of heaven. For 1dm benevolence is 
indeed carried into effect , and casts forth a new root 
into the earth, as every fresh effort is made to improve 
and benefit mankind. 

Yet there is one truth of which the most active and 
devoted friends to mankind have need to be frequently 
reminded. It is a truth admirably couched in our 
Saviour’s own words, “ the poor ye have always with 
you, and whensoever ye will, ye may do them good, 


198 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


but me ye have not always.” Let those who are accus¬ 
tomed to all the acts of beneficence—those who give 
freely and labour diligently for the benefit of their 
fellow-men—those in whom the centrifugal force of 
charity has fairly balanced the centripetal tendencies 
even of legitimate self-love—never fail to remember 
that the Saviour who bought them with a price has 
himself a paramount claim upon their talents, their 
time, and their affections. It is only as we are devoted 
in heart and soul to Him, depending on his grace, filled 
with his love, and formed on the model of his example— 
that we shall be enabled to abound in every good moral 
habit, so as to fulfil all the purposes of life, and finally 
be prepared for the enjoyments and services of a glorious 
and happy eternity. 

There are, indeed, two observations of pre-eminent 
importance to the whole subject of good moral habits. 
While, in the first place, we are bound, on every prin¬ 
ciple of sound policy as well as duty, diligently to cul¬ 
tivate these habits in ourselves and our children—while 
it would be at once injurious and sinful to fold our 
arms together in sleep, and supinely allow the enemy 
to sow those tares which will be sure to yield an abun¬ 
dant crop of vice and misery—this is a department in 
the field of human training in which we ought pecu¬ 
liarly to feel, that, in order to obtain success in our 
efforts, our dependence must be firmly fixed on the 
arm of divine wisdom, love, and power. If this depen¬ 
dence forms one of the most important principles of 
education in general, it is surely applicable with especial 
force to the formation of virtuous character . Here we 


GOOD MORAL HABITS. 


199 


have to feel and acknowledge all the strength and truth 
of our Saviour’s saying, « Without me ye can do 
nothing.” 

In the second place, we ought always to keep in 
view that true virtue or vice, in every man, depends 
on the state of the heart. “ A good man out of the 
good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, 
and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth 
evil things.” 3 What the evil treasure is of the human 
heart in the fall, we learn from another of our Lord’s 
declarations—“ Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, 
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, 
blasphemies.” 2 I have already endeavoured to show 
that the had moral habits, to which mankind are prone, 
and by which Satan so often succeeds in enslaving them 
unto death—palliated though they may be, and even 
arrested by human effort—can never be eradicated 
except by the searching -penetrating operation of the 
Spirit of truth and holiness; and that the religion of 
Jesus Christ, framed as it is with perfect wisdom, for 
the purpose of bringing our best motives into action, is 
the grand instrument in the divine hand for reforming 
and renovating the moral character of mankind. Just 
on the same principles, it is undoubtedly true, that 
although good moral habits, in a worldly point of view, 
may to a great extent be implanted and nurtured by 
education, yet evangelical morality—even that holiness 
which can alone render us fit for enjoying the presence 
of the Lord, and for breathing heaven’s pure element, 
s the effect of a radical change of heart; it is the 
triumph not of uninspired moral philosophy, even unde 
1 Matt xv, 19. 2 Matt, xii, 35. 


200 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


its most excellent forms, but of simple, practical, vital 
Christianity. 


SECTION VI. 

On Good Religious Habits. 

In attempting to take a view of good religious habits, 
as a distinct and supremely important branch of our 
subject, I am far indeed from intending to sever 
morality from religion, or religion from morality. I 
am fully aware that those good morals and good moral 
habits which are required of us as Christians—even 
those heavenly virtues, without which we can never 
be fitted for an entrance into heaven itself—have their 
root in true religion ; and further, that a profession of 
religion is utterly worthless in the sight of God and 
man, if it is not accompanied by that holiness, which 
is at once the genuine fruit and legitimate evidence of 
a heaven-born faith. Nevertheless there are certain 
good habits, of great importance to the formation of 
the Christian character, which are of a nature dis¬ 
tinctly and emphatically religious , and there are certain 
habitual frames of mind also, which, having a direct 
and peculiar relation to the Supreme Being, the only 
right object of religious worship, may be best treated 
of under the same head. 

I cannot, however, with any propriety, enter on this 
department of our subject without again adverting to 
the cardinal point alluded to at the close of the last 
section. If it is impossible for any man to habituate 
either himself or those under his care to the exercise 
of true morality without the aid of the Holy Spirit; 



GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


201 


so it is emphatically true of the religious man, that he 
is what he is “by the grace of God.” The true 
Christian is the workmanship of the Lord Almighty; 
that new creation, to which he owes his spiritual 
existence, bespeaks the wisdom and power of Jehovah, 
just as clearly as the formation of his material organs, 
and the gift of his natural life; and his daily growth in 
grace is no more matter of human training and educa¬ 
tion than is the gradual enlargement and strengthening 
of his bodily frame. Yet man may do something to 
promote the healthy action and improvement of the 
body ; and no less certainly may he, when so enabled, 
co-operate with the saving work of grace in himself, 
and do much to cherish and promote it in others. In 
the formation of good religious habits we have our 
own part to perform, and have no excuse whatsoever 
for neglecting that part. Rather must we exercise a 
holy diligence in order to this end, and then we may 
reverently expect that our Omnipotent Helper will 
bless our efforts, and bestow the increase. 

1. It is an excellent custom—one which we cannot 
too steadily observe for ourselves, or too carefully 
promote in young persons under our care —to retire 
into solitude , from time to time, and especially at the 
commencement and conclusion of each passing day, 
for the purpose of close self-examination, and of com¬ 
muning, as ability may be afforded us, with our Father 
who is in heaven. “ It is good for a man that he bear 
the yoke in his youth. He sitteth alone and keepeth 
silence, because he hath borne it upon him; he putteth 
his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope.” 1 

1 Lam. iii, 27—29. 


202 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


“ Stand in awe and sin not : commune with your own 
heart upon your bed, and be still.” 1 When, in times 
of solitude and stillness, we faithfully review our 
conduct, as rational and moral agents, and rigorously 
examine our mental and spiritual condition before the 
Lord, there can be no doubt that we shall be greatly 
humbled; and this state of prostration, connected, as 
it cannot fail to be, with a sense of our weakness 
and need, will often be accompanied by an earnest 
breathing of soul to God in prayer. Now although 
this contrite and devotional frame of mind is produced 
only by the influence of the Holy Spirit, and is far 
indeed from being at our own command; yet waiting 
upon the Lord in retirement is a Christian habit, which 
it is our bounden duty to cultivate both in ourselves 
and in our children. 

Our Saviour’s precept on the subject of prayer is 
clear to the point. “ But thou, when thou prayest, 
enter into thy closet , and when thou hast shut thy door, 
pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father 
which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” 2 The 
Pharisees loved to pray, “ standing in the synagogues 
and in the corners of the streets,” that they might be 
“ seen of men;” but it is the privilege of the truly 
devotional Christian, frequently to retire into that 
privacy in which he is under the notice of no human 
eye, and there to seek for ability to 'present his fervent 
petitions unto Him, from whose all-penetrating sight 
we can no where and never be concealed. Not only 
is the observance of such a practice required by the 
precept of Jesus, but it is in conformity with his re- 
1 Psalm iv, 4. * Matt, vi, 6. 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


203 


corded example. It was his custom, at seasons, and 
especially on the near approach of duties or exigencies of 
peculiar importance, to separate himself from his dis¬ 
ciples, to retire into the solitary places of the garden, the 
wilderness, or the mountain, and privately to commune 
with his God and Father in solemn awful prayer.” 1 

It is an animating truth that He who commanded 
and taught his disciples to pray, and who set them the 
example of private devotional exercise, is himself the 
all-availing Mediator, in whose name we are freely 
invited to present our petitions to the Father. “If 
ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” 2 
“ Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask 
the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto 
ye have asked nothing in my name. Ask and ye shall 
receive, that your joy may be full.” 3 In dependence 
on the advocacy of our adorable Redeemer, the 
Christian, when all around him is silence and solitude, 
will find it his dearest delight to commune with the 
Author of his being, and “in every thing by prayer 
and supplication, with thanksgiving,” to make his 
“ requests known unto God.” 4 

Let no one imagine, however, that I am pleading for 
the offerings of the lip, which are not accompanied by the 
feelings of the heart; for those who draw near to God 
with their lips, while their hearts are far from him, are so 
far from bringing down his mercy upon their souls, that 
they are justly liable to his condemnation ; like children 
who come to their parents with professions of regard 
and allegiance, which they do not feel, or, in other 

1 Matt, xiv., 23 ; Luke vi, 12; xxii, 41. 2 John xiv, 14. 

3 John xvi, 23, 24. 4 Phil, iv, 6. 


204 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


words, with a lie in their mouths. Such children must 
look, not for reward, but punishment; “ the hope of 
the hypocrite shall perish.” Prayer, in order to be 
well-pleasing to the Lord, and effectual for our benefit, 
must be heartfelt and sincere. When our souls are 
truly touched with a sense of our poverty, our need, 
our helplessness, nay, our very wretchedness by nature, 
then, and then only, can we truly find access, through 
Christ, and by one Spirit, unto the Father. Certain 
it is, that we cannot pray aright, without the “ Spirit 
of grace and supplications.” ‘The Spirit also helpeth 
our infirmities, for we know not what we should 
pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh 
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be 
uttered; and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth 
what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh 
intercession for the saints according to the will of 
God.” 1 

While the habit of frequent retirement from society 
for devotional purposes, is one of a highly salutary 
character, we are not to forget that there is a solitude 
of soul, into which we may habitually retreat before 
the Lord, while we are engaged in the business of life, 
and are surrounded even by a multitude of our fellow 
men. The watchful Christian, while he pursues his 
daily career through the world, never forgets that the 
Lord is nigh; he well knows where strength is to be 
found for every duty, and comfort in every care, per¬ 
plexity, and sorrow ; he is accustomed to introversion 
of mind, and is quick to feel the visitations of the Spirit 
of prayer. These give rise to frequent aspirations, 
1 Rom. viii, 26, 27. 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


205 


which, though they be nothing more than the secret 
sigh, or the momentary ejaculation, ascend with 
acceptance into the ear of the Lord of Hosts, and bring 
down a blessing on the obedient follower of a crucified 
Saviour. 

“Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, 

Uttered or unexpressed, 

The motion of a hidden fire, 

That trembles in the breast. 

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, 

The Christian’s native air, 

His watchword in the hour of death— 

He enters heaven with prayer.” 

Montgomery. 

Finally, it is a blessed evidence of the work of grace 
in the soul, when Christians are found expressing 
prayer and praise by the whole tenor of their disposi¬ 
tions, their demeanour, and their conduct. Such an 
expression of prayer is found in that truly religious 
life, which affords a palpable evidence that the indi¬ 
vidual is ever feeling, and thinking, and acting as a 
child in leading-strings, fearing to take a single step 
alone, habitually depending, in all things, on an Omni¬ 
present, Omnipotent, and most bountiful Father. And 
such an expression of praise is made manifest by the 
cheerful, willing-hearted follower of the Lamb, whose 
every word and action bespeak a spirit filled with 
gratitude to the Author of all his blessings. His heart 
glows and burns within him, and there can be no wonder 
that he runs well, for his race is the race of love. 

2. There are no persons to whom the habit of private 
devotion is more important than the heads of families, 


206 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


whose duty it is, like David, to walk before their house 
“ with a perfect heart.” If such persons are themselves 
acquainted with the benefit of communion with God, 
they will unquestionably feel that it is incumbent upon 
them to collect their children and servants together at 
least once in the day, that the whole family may unite 
in hearing a portion of Scripture, and in drawing near 
in spirit to that Almighty Being, whose “ mercies are 
new every morning,” whose “compassions fail not.” 
This is a practice which has happily become very 
general among serious Christians of all denominations, 
and there can be little doubt that the blessing of the 
Lord rests on his servants and children, who thus daily 
acknowledge him in their family circles. These have 
some satisfying experience of the truth of that ancient 
promise, “ The Lord will create upon every dwelling- 
place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud 
and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire 
by night; for upon all the glory shall be a defence. 
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow, in the 
day time, from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and 
for a covert from storm and from rain.” 1 

3. Among those good religious habits in which it is 
our bounden duty to train up our families by example 
as well as precept, is the diligent attendance of congre¬ 
gational worship, whatsoever may be the section of the 
professing church of Christ, to which we are individu¬ 
ally attached. This practice ought to be regarded, both 
by young and old, as a pleasure and a privilege, not a 
task. It is of the highest importance that our children 
should be imbued, from their very early years, with a 

1 Isaiah iv, 5, 6. 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


207 


relish for heavenly things—with a sense of their beauty 
and loveliness, as well as of their awful importance. A 
devotional taste may he formed in the young mind, 
through divine assistance, without much difficulty; 
and, when once formed, it will exclude the vitiated 
tastes of a world lying in wickedness. When a sense 
of enjoyment comes to be associated with public wor¬ 
ship, the habit of assembling with our brethren for the 
purpose, is formed of course; and as it becomes more 
and more confirmed, the relish of this reasonable 
service, if not heightened in its flavour, is at least 
strengthened in its efficacy. The more constantly we 
attend to so sacred a duty, the more necessary will it 
become to our comfort —the more substantial will be 
our delight , when we enter into the “ gates” of the Lord 
“ with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.” 
Nor is it to be forgotten that the religion of the closet 
—the persevering devotion of the private hour—is an 
important preparation for that fervency and heavenly 
mindedness in congregational worship, without which 
it will effect but little for the permanent benefit of our 
souls. 

I have reason to be thankful that I was trained from 
very early years in the habit of uniting with my friends 
in public worship, some one morning in the middle 
part of the week, as well as on the sabbath day. Thus 
to break away from the cares and pursuits of business, 
at a time when the world around us is full of them, I 
have found to be peculiarly salutary; and can now ac¬ 
knowledge with truth, that the many hours so spent have 
formed one of the happiest, as well as most edifying 
portions of my life. Sure I am that such hours will 


208 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


not be lost to any seriously disposed persons, but will 
lead to a better performance even of their temporal 
duties, than would otherwise have been the case. That 
the same remark applies, in full force, to the right 
observance of the sabbath itself, will be freely acknow¬ 
ledged by all who know and feel its value. 

Far indeed am I from pleading for the actual sacred¬ 
ness of any one day of the week above another, or for 
that legal and ceremonial strictness with which this 
institution was observed, under the law of Moses. So 
far as that law was either civil or ceremonial, it is now 
abolished, and therefore not obligatory on Christians. 
Nevertheless, I am clearly of the judgment, that the 
setting apart of every seventh day, for the blessed 
purposes of rest and worship, is a divine institution— 
one which originated in God’s own Sabbath after the 
creation, when he blessed and hallowed the seventh day 
of rest after the six days of action—one which, in point 
of authority, pervades all time, and attaches to the 
whole family of man. 

That no blessing rests on the desecration of this day, 
all experience proves. Those who have seen it, under 
the curse of West Indian slavery, wrested from its 
legitimate purposes, and turned into a day of traffic and 
dissipation; those who have watched the effect, among 
both Protestant and Roman Catholic nations on the 
continent of Europe, of the open shops on that day 
even during the hours of worship, and of the formal 
religious service of the morning, followed up by the 
thronged theatre of the evening ; those who have known 
men of great intellect, who, in consequence (in part at 
least) of never allowing themselves the “ seventh day’s 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


209 


rest,” have at last been so shattered in mind as to 
commit suicide, (and all these circumstances have come 
under my own notice,)—will be little disposed to 
undervalue this divine ordinance, or to lower its position 
to the shelf of a mere expediency. 

Let us then carefully cherish, both in ourselves and 
in those under our care, a reverent regard for the pro¬ 
vision which the Creator has thus mercifully made for 
the relief and help both of our bodies and souls—for 
the winding up of a framework which may well he 
compared to the delicate machinery of a watch or clock; 
and let this weekly recurring day be habitually devoted 
to waiting on the Lord. “ Even the youths shall faint 
and be weary, and the young men utterly fall; hut they 
that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength ; 
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall 
run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not 
faint.” 1 

4. The Bible is not given to us as a sealed book which 
we have no right to open when we please, or to study 
without the intervention of some ecclesiastical guide. 
It is a treasure which was never placed by Divine 
Providence under the key of a priesthood, hut is one 
of the free gifts of God to man, graciously adapted by 
the Author of our being, to the whole of our fallen 
race. It is indeed an admirable evidence of the truth 
and divine origin of the Sacred Volume, that for its 
most important practical purposes—especially for the 
great end of the soul’s salvation—it is just as intelligible 
to the humble but pious cottager, as it is to the most 
learned and cultivated among mankind. The rough 
1 Isaiah xl, 31. P 


210 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


Greenlander and Esquimaux, the untutored inhabitant 
of New Zealand or Otaheite, the wandering North 
American Indian, the superstitious and degraded Hindoo 
and Chinese, the Hottentot of South Africa, the Negro 
and Malagassee—ignorant and uncultivated men in 
almost every part of the world—have all been found 
capable, with the aid of the most simple Christian 
teaching, of understanding the Holy Scriptures—so far 
as relates to their main object—I mean that of instruct¬ 
ing us in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ 
our Lord. 

Among good religious habits, the frequent and careful 
perusal of this best of all books assumes a highly 
important place. Our young people cannot be habituated 
to a more profitable line of acquaintance, than that 
which leads to an intimacy of soul with prophets, 
evangelists, and apostles, and above all, with the Lord 
Jesus, whose example, character, and doctrine, are 
brought before us in the most vivid manner in the four 
gospels. The daily private reading of Scripture ought, 
therefore, to be a primary object in Christian educa¬ 
tion. In following this pursuit, we shall find it a great 
advantage to peruse the Sacred Volume in its original 
languages. The Hebrew of the Old Testament is 
accessible, without difficulty, to every persevering 
student, and the Greek, which is so commonly taught 
in our schools, cannot be better applied, as we advance 
in life, than in the use of that precious volume, the 
Greek Testament. Independently of the consideration 
of its divine origin, the writings which it contains are 
of unrivalled force, beauty, and simplicity. Yet, doubt¬ 
less, it is its divine origin which imparts to it the 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


211 


sweetness of its savour, and the strength of its charm. 
Here are the morals, and here the doctrines of heaven; 
here is a history most graphical in its touches, and 
most teaching in its tendency; here are prophecies 
which develop that mighty struggle between good and 
evil, between light and darkness, which has been going 
on, in this world of altenations, during the last eighteen 
centuries, and which is destined to result in the final 
triumph of truth and holiness. Here, above all, is 
presented to us the Lord Jesus Christ, the man of 
sorrows, the herald of peace, the pattern of virtue, the 
one great sacrifice for sin, suffering and triumphant, 
dying and living again, and now for ever exalted at the 
right hand of the Father, to he our Advocate with Him. 

Let not those, however, who do not enjoy the privilege 
of reading the Scriptures in their original form, imagine 
for a moment that they are at fault with only the 
common English version in their hands. It is an 
admirable translation, dignified, clear, forcible, and 
generally accurate. Well may we be thankful to that 
Divine Providence, which has led to its being so far 
established by custody rather than authority, as to have 
become, in effect, the one version used by all who speak 
the language of this country. Such a provision is far 
more favourable to the cause of religion, than the dis¬ 
traction which would be occasioned by the competition 
of many translations of the Bible into our language, 
however excellent any of them might be. 

The young and well-trained member of a household, 
who is accustomed to the private perusal of Scripture 
on rising in the morning, and before he retires to rest 

p 2 


212 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


at night, and who hears it read, or reads it himself 
daily in the family circle, is in the way of obtaining 
an accurate knowledge of its contents, a knowledge 
which he has been led to acquire by a love of the 
truth, and by which that love cannot fail to be con¬ 
firmed. Here, however, I would advise my young 
friends, of every name and class, never to pass a day 
without committing a small portion of the Sacred 
Volume to memory, The records of the Bible Society 
contain many accounts of great attainments in this line 
of divine learning. It has sometimes happened, that 
young persons among the poor in Ireland, have learned 
by heart whole books of the New Testament, and thus, 
when afterwards deprived by their ecclesiastical guides 
of the Sacred Volume, they have found themselves in 
happy possession of a large part of its contents. The 
Abyssinian Scriptures are said to have been used in 
the same manner, and with the same success; and 
certainly it ought to be a very general practice. Those 
who thus learn the Scriptures, make them their own 
in a double degree; and passages well committed to 
memory in early life, will generally remain in it, even 
to old age. Early life is the period for such exercises 
of a faculty, which is almost sure to lose its power of 
retention as business multiplies, and the brain grows old. 

5. There are two points which ought to be habitually 
observed in the reading and interpretation of the Sacred 
Volume. The first is that broad impartiality which 
prefers simple truth to any preconceived opinions, and 
to any human system. The second is a reverent 
dependence on the illuminating influence of the Holy 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


213 


Spirit. “ I have long pursued the study of Scripture,” 
said an aged and revered friend of mine, long since 
deceased, “with a desire to he impartial. I commit 
myself to the teaching of the inspired writers, what¬ 
soever complexion it may assume. One thing I know 
assuredly, that in religion, of myself, I know nothing. 
I do not, therefore, sit down to the perusal of Scripture, 
in order to impose a sense on the prophets and apostles, 
but to receive one as they give it me. I pretend not 
to teach them; I wish, like a child, to be taught by 
them.” 

This principle of childlike submission to divine 
authority, and of an even-handed equity in the reception 
and appreciation of the contents of Holy Scripture, has 
no more important application than to those cardinal 
subjects, justification and sanctification. It has always 
appeared to me that the glad tidings of salvation, which 
are declared to us in Scripture, and especially in the 
New Testament, principally consist of two leading and 
essential parts, equal to each other in magnitude and 
importance, and although distinct in their nature and 
character, yet perfectly accordant, and combined, by 
an inseparable union, in God’s own mighty plan for the 
redemption of mankind. 

The first of these parts finds its centre in the doc¬ 
trine of the Atonement, and relates to that which our 
Lord Jesus Christ has already done for us of his own 
voluntary love and mercy, and wholly independently of 
ourselves. He hath “trodden the winepress alone, 
and of the people there was none” with him. “ He is 
the propitiation (or expiatory sacrifice) for our sins 
and through the all-availing offering of Jesus on tho 


214 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


cross, we, who are “by nature the children of wrath/ 
receive the forgiveness of our sins, and are reconciled 
to a just and holy God. The second grand constituent 
of the gospel of Christ, is the promise of the Holy 
Spirit, and the whole doctrine of his enlightening, 
enlivening, and sanctifying influences. It is by these 
influences that the living and reigning Saviour visits 
our dark hearts, convinces of sin, bestows the grace of 
repentance, converts to a living faith in himself, and 
carries on that necessary work of inward purification, 
which can alone prepare us for a state of eternal 
holiness, peace, and joy. 

If, in the perusal of Holy Writ, we dwell on the 
former of these subjects to the exclusion of the latter, 
we shall soon fall into antinomianism ; and if on the 
latter to the exclusion of the former, we shall be in 
danger of being weighed down, even unto destruction, 
by the burden of our past sins. We stand in absolute 
need of the pardon of our past transgressions through 
the atoning sacrifice of Jesus ; and equally do we re¬ 
quire a deliverance from present sin, by the power of 
the Holy Spirit. Let us then cleave, with equal love, 
and zeal, and reverence, to both these branches of 
divine truth. Justification and sanctification are joined 
together by the hand of our God, and must never 
be dissevered. If one of them occupy a less space in 
our minds and feelings than the other, our Christianity 
will soon become defective or distorted, just in the 
degree in which the holy balance between them is 
sacrificed and lost. Can anything be more clear or 
more emphatic than the numerous passages of Scrip¬ 
ture, in which the sacred writers, and our Saviour 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


215 


himself in his ministry, set forth the doctrine of his 
mediation and expiatory death ? Is there any thing 
more lucidly stated, or more carefully insisted on in 
the Bible, than the gracious work and offices of the 
Holy Spirit ? The foundation will be of no use to us, 
if we build nothing upon it ; and our building is a 
cloud or a shadow—a mere castle in the air—if it does 
not rest on Christ, the Bock of ages. 

Persons may entertain very different, and sometimes 
even opposite views on some other doctrines of reli¬ 
gion, which are by no means destitute of importance ; 
and they may be very far from agreeing one with 
another, either in opinion or practice, in relation to 
church government and modes of worship; and yet if 
they thoroughly embrace the sacred truths now ad¬ 
verted to, and hold them in even balances, tracing both 
these lines of mercy to the fathomless depth of the love 
of God the Father, they are severally in the way 
of experiencing the blessed effects of Christianity, so 
far as relates to its main purpose—the salvation of the 
soul. Being baptized by the one Spirit into the one 
needful faith, and being followers of one and the same 
Lord, they are fellow-members of the one church of 
Christ upon earth, and may look forward to the per¬ 
fection of their union in the world to come. 

“Yes, let the future smile or mourn, 

To us a glorious place is given, 

"With the great church of the first-born, 

Whose names are registered in heaven. 

Beyond the hounds of time’s expansion, 

Where change and sorrow never come, 

We’re journeying to the promised mansion, 

Made ready in our Father’s home. 


216 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


Friends, kindred, loving and beloved, 

That wont on earth our lot to cheer, 

Thither are, one by one, removed, 

And we shall find them settled there. 

Enough ! though sin, and pain, and death, 

This transitory world infest, 

They who attain to Abraham's faith, 

Shall be with faithful Abraham blessed." 

Hankinson. 


The points on which Christians differ are unques¬ 
tionably not to be disregarded. It is greatly to be 
desired that on these points also, light and truth should 
spread, and that the simple, broad, spiritual views held 
out to us in the Holy Scriptures, should be accepted in 
their native fulness, and primitive strength. Never¬ 
theless, it is an excellent habit of mind—one which we 
cannot too carefully cherish in ourselves and others—to 
view the various parts of the fabric of truth in their right 
‘proportions; not allowing secondary points, however 
interesting they may be to ourselves, to occupy a larger 
portion of our field of vision, than properly belongs to 
them in the order of the gospel. Such a habit of mind 
will never discourage us in the faithful support and 
diligent pursuit of truth; at the same time, it will 
greatly aid us in the maintenance of that Christian love 
which is the badge of discipleship. The good old 
motto was never more important than in the present 
day of polemical strife and sectarian prejudice, “ In 
essentials, unity ; in non-essentials, liberty ; in all 
things, CHARITY.” 

It is abundantly evident that we shall never comply 
with these principles, or form the habit now recom- 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


217 


mended, while we lean to our own understandings, and 
follow the counsels of our own hearts. Man is by 
nature prone to dark and distorted views, and there is 
nothing more common even among persons who make 
a high profession of religion, than a zeal which is “ not 
according to knowledge.” It is only as we are 
favoured with the help and guidance of the Holy 
Spirit, and submit to his influence, that we can cor¬ 
rectly perceive, and rightly appreciate the various 
parts of divine truth. There can be no saving know¬ 
ledge of the gospel of Christ without this influence. 
“For what man knoweth the things of a man, save 
the spirit of man which is in him ? even so the things 
of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now 
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the 
Spirit which is of God ; that we might know the 

things that are freely given to us of God.The 

natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of 

God.neither can he know them, because they 

are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual 
judgeth (or discerneth, uvaxg/vei) all things, yet he him¬ 
self is judged (or discerned, avoMgiverui) of no man. 
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he 
may instruct him ? But we have the mind of Christ .” 1 

“ Yes, my brother,” said the same pious individual 
to me in the course of an instructive conversation, 
“the spiritual man has a sense of his own ; or rather, 
his natural vision is corrected, and is rendered applica¬ 
ble to divine things by an influence from above. I am 
told to look at the planets—I can see Jupiter and 

1 1 Cor. ii, 11—16. 




218 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


Venus ; but there is the Georgium Sidus —I look 
again ; I strain my eyes exceedingly, but it is all in 
vain. ‘ Here, take the telescope.’ 4 O yes, now I see 
it, how beautiful the star! how perspicuous the vision! 
You tell me to read that almanac, I am young and 
shortsighted; the ball of my eye is too convex; the 
rays meet before they arrive at the retina. My 
brother, it is all confusion. I am old—my lens is 
flattened; the rays meet even behind my head; the 
retina is left untouched by them. Give the young 
man those spectacles with a concave glass—now he 
he sees ! now he can read the book ; now the rays 
meet precisely on his retina! Here my old friend, 
take these convex glasses, they will rectify your fading 
vision. He sees; he reads; again the retina is 
touched, and pencilled with a nice precision. So it is 
with the Spirit. In whatsoever manner or degree the 
soul, or understanding of man, is darkened or dis- 
eased, the Spirit is always applicable to our need— 
always a rectifier.” 

It is indeed our duty to avail ourselves of every 
means within our reach, for ascertaining the meaning 
of Scripture, and for developing its almost endless 
riches. History, geography, the records of ancient 
customs, and the testimony of modern travellers—not 
to mention the critical study of the original languages, 
and philology in all its legitimate applications—have a 
very important place, as means of an accurate acquaint¬ 
ance with the volume which contains the ever blessed 
charter of the liberty of souls. Yet that charter may 
be effectually read and understood by those who have 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


219 


have little or no access to these various sources of in¬ 
formation : and whether we be numbered among the 
learned or ignorant of mankind, it is only as we are 
habituated , in the reading of Scripture, to a watchful 
dependence on the influences of the Spirit—correcting 
our dispositions and enlightening our vision—that we 
shall obtain that true and experimental knowledge 
of religion, on which the value of the book, for our 
substantial improvement and eternal welfare, entirely 
depends. 


In order to do justice to the subject now under con¬ 
sideration, we must not attempt to close this essay 
without some mention of habits more hidden from the 
observation of men, than the generality of those which 
we have hitherto noticed, and yet observable enough 
in their effects—I mean good religious habits of 
thought, of feeling, of disposition — habits of the 
rational, responsible soul within us. These, under 
grace, may be cherished, and matured, by education ; 
yet not so much by the care of others, as by that 
education of ourselves, for which we are all respon¬ 
sible in the sight of a just and holy God. 

Such habits may be regarded as constituting frames 
of mind—all existing at the same times, co-operating 
and blending without any interruption of their respec¬ 
tive influences—all tending together to the same great 
end of the happiness of man and the glory of God, 
while every one manifests itself by its own distinct 
and peculiar fruits. 



220 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


1. The first of these habits, or frames of mind, in 
point of order as well as necessity, is that of the filial 
fear of God. 

I am satisfied that even serious Christians are not 
enough in the practice of impressing this fear on the 
minds of their children. There is too great a prone¬ 
ness in many parents who know and love the Lord 
Jesus, and delight themselves in the abundance of the 
riches which are in Christ, to give to those under 
their care, a view of all that is joyous and comforting 
in the Christian system, without communicating to 
them a full sense of the weight of our responsibilities, 
the absolute holiness of God, the terribleness of his 
wrath against every species of iniquity, the certainty 
of his judgments, the awfulness of his omnipresence, 
the ever-penetrating eye of his omniscience. But 
these are parts of the great system of truth, which, 
beyond all others, perhaps, are of primary importance 
to the young mind. Youth is too buoyant to be 
overpowered even by the strongest presentation of 
these solemn views; yet they are admirably calculated 
to check its volatility, curb its passions, and restrain its 
deviations from the paths of virtue; so far as they 
take possession of the mind, they are ever found, in 
connection with conviction for sin, to be the best pre¬ 
paration for a hearty reception of the consolations 
of the gospel — of the pardoning mercies of God, 
through Jesus our Lord. 

Yet it is truly a filial fear—the fear of the child and 
not of the slave—which we ought to feel ourselves, 
and to impress on those whom we educate. The 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


221 


child of God is accustomed to a just view of the moral 
attributes of the Deity; he loves and reverences that 
holy law, which is at once the result and expression of 
those attributes; he trembles at the very notion of sin, 
which is the transgression of the law—not only because 
of its penal consequences, hut because he cannot bear 
to offend that holy and glorious Being, so lovely in his 
perfections—so adorable in the evidences of his love— 
whom he has been taught to regard as his Father. 
Such an one, impressed with reverential fear, can 
comprehend the full force of those words of prayer, 
“ Our Father which art in heaven—hallowed be thy 
name—thy kingdom come—thy will be done on earth, 
as it is in heaven—lead us not into temptation— 
deliver us from evil! ” 

2. With this habit of the filial fear of God is 
inseparably connected that of watchfulness. “ Watch 
and pray, lest ye enter into temptation” 1 —“ What I 
say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.” 2 " See that ye 
walk circumspectly , not as fools, but as wise—redeem¬ 
ing the time because the days are evil.” 3 The word 
“ circumspectly” does not exactly represent the Greek 
axgifioog, which rather means accurately; yet in order 
to walk accurately—that is, in exact accordance with 
the rule of right—nothing can be more important than 
the habit of circumspection, or in other words, the 
habit of looking all round before we take the next 
step in our walk in life. The mind’s eye may easily 
become accustomed to run this circuit, on every suc¬ 
cessive occasion, without involving the consequence of 
a slower pace than would suit the calls either of con- 
1 Matt, xxvi, 41. * Mark xiii, 37. * Eph. v, 16. 


222 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


venience or duty. The thing required is habitual 
watchfulness of soul before the Lord, by which the 
Christian traveller may avoid the many snares of the 
tempter and deceiver of men—“In vain the net is 
spread in the sight of any bird.” 1 There is such a 
thing as spiritual prudence; there is, also, the restraint 
or denial of self. These virtues are the sisters of 
watchfulness, and the parent of them all is the true fear 
of an omnipresent, all-wise, and omnipotent God. 

Yet we are not always to expect a clear view of the 
reasons why one step in the walk of life is preferable 
to another—why the one is to be taken and the other 
eschewed—for we walk by faith and not by sight. 
Happy are those who know how to discern the point¬ 
ing of the divine finger, and in whom has been formed, 
through grace, the Christian habit of obeying it, even 
under circumstances of difficulty and darkness. These 
will walk in their way safely, and if they “ follow on,” 
in patience, to know and serve the Lord, they will be 
sure to verify, in their own experience, the blessed 
promise of ancient days—“ I will bring the blind by 
a way that they know not; I will lead them in paths 
that they have not known; I will make darkness light 
before them, and crooked things straight. These 
things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” 2 
The eye of faith is open to behold the directing hand 
of the Lord, and subsequent experience will seldom 
fail to bring to light those paternal reasons for such 
direction, which, for a time, are hidden under a veil of 
obscurity. “ What I do thou knowest not now, but 
thou shalt know hereafter.” 3 
1 Prov. i, 27. 2 Isaiah xfi, 16. 3 John xiii, 7. 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


223 


I wish to make myself clear on this interesting 
topic. I am not here speaking of what is often called 
providential direction—instruction as to the course 
which we are to pursue, arising out of the develop¬ 
ment of events. I am speaking of the immediate and 
perceptible guidance of the Spirit, which, as I believe, 
will never be wanting to the humble, watchful, ivaiting 
Christian, on all occasions which involve a moral 
question, or which, being temporal and secular in their 
own nature, nevertheless affect our spiritual welfare. 
I am far from excluding a right use of the natural 
faculty of judgment, under that divine influence by 
which it is illuminated and rectified. Yet, beyond the 
boundaries of this faculty there is, at times, a walk of 
faith marked out for us, for which we cannot at pre¬ 
sent discern the reasons; nevertheless our true safety 
will be found in implicit and childlike obedience to the 
dictates of the Spirit. The illustration which the 
friend, already mentioned, once gave me of this branch 
of our present subject, is remarkably happy. “ The 
worlding,” said he, “is like the mariner of ancient 
times who had nothing to guide him through the 
trackless deep, but the sun, the moon, and the stars: 
when these were veiled, all was obscurity, guess-work, 
and peril. But, the true Christian, however simple, 
is like the modern mariner, who has a compass on 
board, which will always guide him aright, however 
cloudy the atmosphere, however dark the night. The 
Christian has a compass within him —a faithful 
monitor, a clear director. If he consult his compass 
diligently, he will be sure to form a right decision on 
every moral question, while the proud philosopher who 


224 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


knows no such teacher, is tossed on the waves of doubt 
and confusion. And how is this? Why, my dear 
brother, he is renewed in the spirit of his mind. It is 
because his dispositions are rectified, that his vision is 
restored.” 

Of one philosopher, indeed, I have already made 
mention, who might perhaps be classed among the 
humble rather than the proud, and who, though a 
stranger to outwardly revealed truth, was accustomed 
to consult this modern mariner’s compass. I allude 
to Socrates, that truly great and wise man, who, amidst 
all the superstition with which he was surrounded, 
and by which he was himself in some degree infected, 
gave proofs in his conversation that he was by no means 
destitute of a certain measure of divine illumination. 
But the Christian enjoys far juster views, and far 
larger experience of the same divine guidance. He 
sees the pointing of the finger of God; he feels the 
power which restrains him from all things injurious 
to his highest welfare; he listens to the still “ small 
voice” of the Shepherd of Israel, saying, “ This shalt 
thou do—and that thou shalt leave undone.” Certain 
it is that we cannot imbue our children, that we cannot 
seek to be imbued ourselves—with more important 
habits, than those of close attention in the first place, 
and of implicit obedience in the second, to this guiding, 
restraining, warning voice of the Spirit of God. It is 
distinguished from the impulses of human imagination, 
by the quietness, sobriety, and charity, with which a 
submission to its dictates never fails to be accompa¬ 
nied. It is the voice of Him who condescends to 
dwell in his people—of Him who is infinitely wise, 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


225 


perfectly just and holy, and abounding in mercy and 
goodness; it commands stillness to the turbulent waves 
of passion ; it leads far away from all that defiles the 
moral nature of man; it whispers of holy and heavenly 
things; and after conducting us through paths of deep 
humiliation, it leaves us to expatiate in the broad fields 
of piety, truth, and peace. It is that which we see, 
hear, feel, with the eye, the ear, the nerve of the inmost 
soul. We know that it comes from our Father, and 
leads to his eternal abode. 

The apostle John, in unison with his Lord and Master, 
insists on this inward guidance and direction. He 
ascribes it to the “anointing” which teacheth us of “ all 
things, and is truth and no lie.” 1 Now the Holy Scrip¬ 
tures themselves, which were given forth under an 
extraordinary measure of the same divine influence, 
contain, as we well know, the most explicit and com¬ 
prehensive statements of the law of the Lord in its 
various branches. If any man, therefore, under the 
pretence or notion of divine guidance, breaks the law 
of God as it is declared in the Sacred Volume, or con¬ 
tradicts the spirit of that law, such a circumstance 
affords a clear evidence that he is either an impostor or 
enthusiast. Yet the Scriptures deal in general prin¬ 
ciples-—the precepts which they contain apply, with 
equal force, to all the cases of a class. In the applica¬ 
tion of any given precept to any particular exigency, 
we need the immediate teaching of the Holy Spirit, 
who not only writes the law on the heart, but instructs 
us, as by a “ word behind” us—by a testimony as swift 
• 1 John ii, 27. 

Q 


226 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


as lightning—how, and when, and where we are to 
carry it into effect. Happy indeed are they who are 
habituated, to a reverent regard for the precepts as well 
as the doctrines of Holy Writ, and who are equally 
accustomed to hear and obey the intelligible dictates of 
the Spirit of Christ within them! These are truly 
“ the children of the day,” who walk not in darkness, 
but have the “light of life.” 1 

3. “Put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may 
know what to do unto thee,” was the command given 
to rebellious Israel in days of old ,* and the same com¬ 
mand, in a spiritual sense, has its vivid application to 
mankind under the New Covenant. Putting off our 
self-righteousness and pride, and all the pomps and 
vanities of this wicked world, we must resign ourselves 

1 Lord Chief Justice Hale, that eminent Christian Judge, makes 
mention, in one passage of his works, of “ the word of the Spirit 
of God speaking secretly in the heart.” In another passage he 
testifies (evidently from his own experience) that “this secret 
direction of Almighty God” maybe found not only in religious 
matters, hut in “great and momentous concerns of this life.” 
Again he says, “ The Spirit of God sanctifies the heart by its own 
immediate and continued assistance. In the midst of thy difficul¬ 
ties it will be thy Counsellor, a secret voice behind thee, saying, 
‘ This is the way, walk in it.’ Only beware thou neglect not the 
voice of the Spirit of God; it may be thy neglect may quench it, 
and thou mayest never hear that voice more. When the still voice 
is not heard by a man, his soul draweth near to the grave, and his 
life to the destroyer. The observation of the secret admonition of 
the Spirit of God in the heart, as it is an effectual means, so it is a 
calm and comfortable means, to cleanse and sanctify thy heart; 
and the more it is attended unto, the more it will be conversant 
with thy soul, for thy instruction, strength, and comfort.” See 
Hales’ Moral and Religious Works , edited by Thirlwall. 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


227 


to the mighty operation of the hand of God; we must 
lie passive under that hand, like the clay under the 
hand of the potter, that He “ may know what to do” 
with us—that he may form and fashion us as vessels in 
his house, (be our appointed shape what it may,) accord¬ 
ing to his own will and purpose, and for his own use 
and glory. 

There is, perhaps, no habit of mind more wanted 
among professing Christians, or more desirable in 
every stage of our religious experience, than that of 
passiveness under the discipline of the cross. This 
discipline is applied partly through the medium of 
outward afflictions, and partly by the immediate sanc¬ 
tifying operations of the Holy Spirit; and without an 
experience of the latter the former will be wholly 
unavailing. “ I was dumb with silence, I opened not 
my mouth, because thou didst it,” is an expression of 
passive submission; and we must endeavour after the 
state of mind which is thus expressed, not only when 
the chastening hand of the Lord is laid upon us, in 
sickness or other outward affliction, but when he is 
pleased to baptize us inwardly with the Holy Ghost 
and with fire—when he burns up the chaff which 
abounds in the whole internal framework of the natu¬ 
ral man, by the heart-searching and heart-cleansing 
operation of his own Spirit. 

Did we know more of this necessary work—did we 
more patiently abide the furnace of the Lord, during 
the often prolonged day of humiliation and conflict— 
were we thus more truly conformed to the sufferings 
and death of our holy Redeemer—our religion would 

Q 2 


228 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


be of a deeper character, and we should be better 
prepared to arise out of our low and dark condition 
into the true light and liberty of the children of God. 

It would be an unspeakable advantage to the cause 
of Christianity, were even its serious professors more 
thoroughly aware, than many of them seem to be at 
present, that God is not glorified, or his kingdom truly 
promoted, by performances which do not spring out of 
the right source, being the offspring of the merely 
natural working of the mind of man. The grace of 
God, by which the motives and affections are purified 
and exalted, and the renovated creature prepared for 
the uses of the Creator, is the spring of all that is 
really beneficial for the conversion of sinners, and 
for the moral and spiritual improvement of mankind. 
It is a blessed habit to wait, and watch, and seek for 
this grace, and in all our endeavours to promote the 
welfare of others, as well as our own salvation, to 
move under its quieting influence, its safe guidance, 
its dignifying authority. Such a habit would by no 
means betray us into indolence; but it would often 
lead us into that wholesome stillness, out of which 
would arise words fitly spoken in season, and works 
truly conformed to the will and wisdom of the Lord. 

4. Were there less of self—less of the working of 
man’s wild nature, and more of the influence of the 
Holy Spirit, in our conduct and conversation, there 
would be a larger, clearer scope for the exercise of 
another most important mental habit, that of trusting 
in God. Blessed are they who, amidst the ever- 
varying pleasures, pains, and duties of this shifting 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


229 


scene, can draw near to their invisible yet ever-present 
Protector with filial confidence—who habitually lean 
on his arm of power, repose on his love and mercy, 
and steadfastly rely on the stability of his promises. 
Serving the Lord, walking in the light of his counte¬ 
nance, and depending upon Him under every circum¬ 
stance, with implicit affiance, such persons possess the 
secret of true happiness; there is a holy calm over 
their spirits; they are assured that all things work 
together for good to them that love God, and that their 
Father doeth all things well; thus they can patiently 
bear the pains of life, for their darkest hours are 
gilded with hope; and they can also taste its innocent 
pleasures—especially its intimate social joys—with a 
delightful relish, as those who know that they have no 
continuing city here, but are seeking one to come. 

This mental habit of confidence in God can never 
be fully formed in us unless we believe in the truth as 
it is in Jesus, and cordially embrace the Saviour, who, 
being in the form or nature of God, made himself of 
no reputation, became incarnate in the nature of man, 
lived as our pattern, died as the propitiation for our 
sins, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sat 
down at the right hand of the Father, and ever lives 
to make intercession for us—our holy High Priest— 
our merciful sympathizing Head—our glorious Ruler, 
King, and Judge. It is impossible for us too strongly 
to impress upon the minds of young people the value 
and excellence of that mighty plan of redemption 
which is unfolded to us in Holy Writ, or too carefully 
to cherish in them the blessed habit of seeking access 
to the Father through the son. A just view of the 


230 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


mediatorial offices of Christ—a heartfelt faith in Jesus 
as the Saviour of the world—will render their trust in 
God intelligent and stable ; they will comprehend the 
reason why, notwithstanding their weakness and un¬ 
worthiness, and their many past transgressions, they 
may nevertheless approach God with confidence, and 
rely on his matchless love and goodness. Broken and 
humbled though they be—and broken and humbled 
they must be , if they would approach him availingly 
—they discover that there is no ground for discourage¬ 
ment or despair; and thus are they prepared to run 
their appointed race with holy alacrity. Nor will 
this alacrity be weakened as they gain experience, and 
grow old in the knowledge and service of Christ. 
Though their sensations may then be less vivid than 
in the days of their youth, their principles will become 
more deeply rooted, more strongly confirmed; their 
trust in God through Jesus Christ will be more settled 
—and when, at last, they shall find themselves passing 
through the valley of the shadow of death, they will 
fear no evil, because God is with them; and peaceful 
will be their strong though humble hope—their quiet, 
unwavering assurance—that they shall dwell in the 
house of the Lord for ever. 

“ What though, as years roll on and shift the scene, 

A calmer, cooler mode may supervene, 

Yet spreads the root in the deep soil below, 

And riper fruits on firmer branches grow; 

Well-tempered charity, substantial peace, 

Wisdom and fortitude with years increase; 

Patience to suffer, meekness to forbear, 

With nice discernment of each hidden snare; 

The watchful eye, the ever-deepening sense 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


231 


Of man’s defect, and God’s omnipotence; 

The chastened heart oft prostrate in the dust, 

The steadfast walking, the unbending trust, 

And hope well settled on the joys above, 

The calm reflection of a Saviour’s love; 

To perfect day the just man’s path shall shine, 

Thou Holy Comforter, its light is thine.” 

5. When the spies who were sent to examine the 
land of Canaan brought back to the camp of Israel 
their vast bunches of grapes, with a terrible report of 
the Anakim who dwelt in that country, they were 
justly liable to rebuke and punishment. The hopes 
excited by the luscious fruit were overturned by the 
terrors of their gloomy tale, and the people of God 
were discouraged from pursuing their arduous pil¬ 
grimage. It is worthy of consideration, whether 
those Christians are not liable to similar blame who, 
while they sometimes insist on the delights of that 
spiritual kingdom which “ is not meat nor drink, but 
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,” 
are, for the most part, so clad in sackcloth, and so 
obviously appalled by the conflicts which attend their 
course, that they give a bad report of heavenly things 
to all around them, and minister discouragement to 
many a weary pilgrim—to many a seeking soul. 

Reconciled to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, 
and united by the same faith to Him who is exalted 
far above all principality and power, at the right hand 
of the Father, the Christian is bound to obey the 
apostolic precept, “ Rejoice evermore ; in every thing 
give thanks.” He ought surely to show to his fellow 
men, not only that the virtues which are the fruit of 
true religion are pleasant and wholesome, but also that 


232 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


the giants, who “ dwell in the land,” are often nothing 
better than shadows, and when giants indeed, are under 
the absolute control of that Saviour, whose covenant of 
light and life ensures both the present safety and the 
ultimate victory of his followers. The result of an 
habitual attention to this bright but just view of the 
subject, will be a serenity of soul equally habitual; 
and this serenity will manifest itself in a cheerful 
demeanour and happy countenance. These will speak 
a language of their own, which may be interpreted by 
the words, Come and “ have fellowship with us : for 
truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son 
Jesus Christ.” 1 Undoubtedly there will occur to the 
Christian, times of spiritual fasting, as well as feasting. 
At such times, let us accustom ourselves to act on the 
spirit of our Saviour’s injunction : “ But thou, when 
thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face, that 
thou appetr not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father 
which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret, 
shall reward thee openly.” 2 

It was said by a prophet, in days of old, that “ they 
who feared the Lord spake often one to another ; and 
the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of re¬ 
membrance was written before him for them that feared 
the Lord, and that thought upon his name.” 3 A pain¬ 
ful reserve on the most interesting and important of all 
subjects, is sometimes to be remarked, even in persons 
who are by no means destitute of pious feelings. Such 
a reserve spreads an icy influence, which is little calcu¬ 
lated to promote a generous ardour for truth and 
righteousness in the minds of the young and inexperi- 

1 1 Johni, 3. 2 Matt, vi, 17. 3 Malachi iii, 16. 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


233 


enced. Others, on the contrary, are too frequent and 
familiar in their talk on serious subjects ; and that 
which is in itself unspeakably precious and cheering, 
becomes, through their untutored zeal, both dry and 
unpalatable. There is in this matter a “golden mean,” 
which parents, tutors, and religious friends cannot too 
carefully observe. “ Out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh and the subject of religion ought 
never to be handled, even in social conversation, except 
under a lively feeling of its supreme importance, and 
in such a manner as to promote the same feeling in those 
with whom we are conversing. “ Let your speech be 
always with grace, seasoned with salt”' 

6. Of all the characteristics of the “old man, which 
is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,” none are 
more prominent or more universal than the inordinate 
' love of self—a love manifested in a thousand different 
forms, and always accompanied by a corresponding 
absence of love to God. Nor is there any part of the 
experience of the new creature in Christ, so essential 
to his character and his hopes, as 4 the expulsive power 
of a new affection ’—even of that love for our Creator 
and Redeemer which drives out the love of self, and 
of the world, from our bosoms. 

When we contemplate the perfections of God, as they 
are displayed in the works of nature, in the order of 
Providence, and especially in the Holy Scriptures, we 
cannot fail to learn that he is supremely worthy, not 
only of our filial fear and reverence, but of our ferven 
constant love ; nor can we avoid acknowledging the> 
justness of the first and great commandment, 44 Thou 
1 Col. iv, 6. 


234 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.” More 
especially when onr Christianity becomes vital and 
truly intelligent—when “ God, who commanded the 
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, 
to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of 
God, in the face of Jesus Christ ”—we cannot do other¬ 
wise than love Him who “ first loyed us.” The gift 
of his only begotten Son to be the Propitiation for our 
sins, and the Saviour of the world, is the highest 
evidence of our Heavenly Father’s love. The Son 
himself, also, in his own boundless benevolence and 
charity, herein co-operates with the Father, to whose 
will he is subject. “Hehath loved” us, and “given 
himself ” for us. Nor are we to forget the love of the 
Holy Ghost, the Comforter, who visits our degraded 
and benighted race, and richly dwells, as the very 
source of purity and peace, in the hearts of the Lord’s 
children. Penetrated with a view of the height, and 
depth, and length, and breadth of this divine love, the 
heart of the believer will be for ever fixed, in reverent 
gratitude and fervent affection, on the Father, Son, and 
Spirit— one God blessed for evermore. 

When this love to God becomes an habitual prin¬ 
ciple of action, it imparts a holy decision of character ; 
it gently constrains to an unreserved surrender of the 
soul ; our faith works by it, and by every act of obedi¬ 
ence which that faith produces, it is more and more 
enlarged and strengthened. So comprehensive is its 
character, that springing up to God, in the first place, 
it again descends as a mighty stream from his heavenly 
throne, and encircles the earth below ; so that a 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


235 


genuine love to the Supreme Being never fails to 
bring along with it a fervent love for our brethren also, 
and that blessed charity which embraces the whole 
family of man. Those who are animated by this divine 
affection, will be ever bearing the pleasant fruits of 
integrity, justice, purity, and universal kindness ,* they 
will follow the example of a perfect Saviour ; and they 
will be qualified, far above the wise of this world, to be 
good citizens even of the city which continueth not— 
good members of that vast community of rational 
beings who are placed on the earth, under the natural 
and moral government of the Creator of the universe. 

This certainly is one great point to be always con¬ 
sidered in the formation of good religious habits, which 
are of primary importance, as a qualification for the 
claims and purposes of the present life. They are 
associated in friendly union, with good habits of body, 
of art, and of intellect, pervading and elevating them 
all. With good moral habits they are connected in 
the peculiar relation which the root bears to the fruit; 
they are, in fact, the development of that work of 
grace which can alone enable corrupt and degraded 
man truly to fulfil the varied obligations which attach 
to his mortal existence. 

Nevertheless, we must always remember that “ our 
conversation (i. e., our citizenship—cToX/rg^a) is in 
heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the 
Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Never must we forget that it is 
the gracious purpose of our Creator, during the whole 
course of this present life, to educate us for eternity. 
All the pleasures which we enjoy, all the pains which 
1 Phil, iii, 20, 21. 


236 


GOOD RELIGIOUS HABITS. 


we suffer, all the temptations to which we are exposed, 
all our calls of duty and business, all the claims on our 
benevolence and good doing, all our social affections 
and relations, all the interlaced machinery of circum¬ 
stances and events, with which we come in contact— 
even the very evils which surround us—constitute a 
school of discipline , in which the Holy Spirit of our 
God (if we do but believe and obey) will lead, teach, 
and train us, that so we may be prepared for an infi¬ 
nitely higher and happier world—a world of endless 
bliss and perfect purity. 

The scenes of sorrow and joy, of duty, business, and 
pleasure, which here occupy so much of our attention, 
will soon pass away. The shadows of life flit before 
us for a moment, and then vanish for ever. The 
strange and often turbulent dream, by which we are 
now alternately amused and oppressed, will presently 
be dispelled by the wakening ray of the morning. 
“ The night is far spent”—“the day”—the eternal 
day—“ is at hand.” Let us then, in reverent depen¬ 
dence on divine grace, yet with holy resolution and 
diligence, cultivate the habit of heavenly-mindedness. 
Let us “ seek those things which are above, where 
Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.” “ Let us 
fight the good fight of faith,” and “ lay hold of eternal 
life.” Let us press onward through every difficulty, 
humiliation, temptation, and sorrow, until we shall 
finally exchange the cross which we bear after Jesus, 
for a crown immortal, incorruptible, and full of glory. 


^J>RINTED BY J. FLETCHER, NORWICH. 




Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Nov. 2004 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-2111 













































































































































































































































































